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Research into long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA C22:6 n-3), has shown that their inclusion in the human diet is linked with many health benefits. This has led to an increased interest in the enrichment of certain foodstuffs with DHA by supplementing animal fed with DHA-rich ingredients which can lead to an increased uptake in the meat, milk and eggs animal by-products. The microalgae Aurantiochytrium limacinum has been found to be especially useful in this pursuit. It is subsequently desirable to availably have a simple and robust method for the routine analysis of DHA and other fatty acids in the algal biomass. The AOAC method 996.06 is often followed for the analysis of fatty acids in foods and demonstrating that its fitness for purpose in the analysis of DHA and additional fatty acids in Aurantiochytrium limacinum is therefore the objective of this paper. A validation of the method for the determination of DHA and three other fatty acids in Aurantiochytrium limacinum is presented. The method was found to be linear over the following ranges for each fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analyte; 50 to 15,000 µg/ml (C14:0), 300 to 95,000 (C16:0), 25 to 15,000 (C18:0) and 300 to 59,375 (C22:6). The accuracy, precision and LOD and LOQ of the method were confirmed and its robustness tested. The application of the method to assess the stability of Aurantiochytrium limacinum containing two alternative antioxidants was further examined. The investigation showed that DHA was stable over six months with the inclusion

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There is growing appreciation among human factors and safety specialists regarding the frequent link between ergonomic defects in job, workstation, and/or equipment design, and job-related accidents and injuries. With the objective of critically addressing this question, we analyzed the nature and cause of disabling injuries suffered by employees of a large northwest telephone company over the period 5/74 through 6/81. The data base consists of disabling injury claims accepted by the Oregon Workers Compensation Department. A total of 395 claims over the 86 month period were analyzed. We judged that the injury source designations were specific enough to enable us to provisionally categorize the injuries into three major groups: (1) probable ergonomic cause (manual materials handling); (2) possible ergonomic cause (falls, free bodily motion); and non-ergonomic cause (all other injury sources). Under this categorization, 26.1% of the disabling injuries had probable, 49.4% possible, and 24.5% no ergonomic cause. Free bodily motion and falls each accounted for 25% of all injuries, with lifting (14%) the third most common source of injury. Muscular strain from all sources was the most frequent type of injury, representing 59% of all injuries. The body part most frequently affected was the back (39% of total injuries; 50% of all strains). The results suggest that ergonomic factors may play a significant if not dominant role in disabling injuries suffered by telephone workers, with muscular strain, particularly to the back, being the most prevalent type of injury.