Clinical, biochemical and molecular biology studies have identified lysosome-encapsulated cellular proteases as critical risk factors for cancer progression. Cathepsins represent a group of such proteases aimed at maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Nevertheless, recent reports suggest that Cathepsin B executes other cellular programs such as controlling tumor growth, migration, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastases development. In fact, elevated levels of Cathepsins are found under different pathological conditions including inflammation, infection, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer. Furthermore, the discovery of Cathepsin B secretion and function as an extracellular matrix protein has broadened our appreciation for the impact of Cathepsin B on cancer progression. Underneath a façade of an intracellular protease with limited therapeutic potential hides a central role of cathepsins in extracellular functions. Moreover, this role is incredibly diverse from one condition to the next -from driving caspase-dependent apoptosis to facilitating tumor neovascularization and metastasis. Here we discuss the role of Cathepsin B in the oncogenic process and perspective the use of Cathepsin B for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

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Concerns about foodborne salmonellosis have led many countries to introduce microbiological criteria for certain food products. If such criteria are not well-grounded in science, they can be an unjustified obstacle to trade. Raw poultry products are an important part of the global food market. Import / export ambiguities, as well as regulatory confusion resulting from different Salmonella requirements, were the impetus for convening an international group of scientific experts from 16 countries to discuss the scientific and technical factors that affect the setting of a microbiological criterion for Salmonella contamination of raw chicken. A particular concern for the group was the use of criteria implying a ‗zero tolerance' for Salmonella and suggesting complete absence of the pathogen. The notion can be interpreted differently by various stakeholders and was considered inappropriate because there is neither an effective means of eliminating Salmonella from raw poultry nor any practical method for verifying its absence.Therefore, it may be more useful at present to set food-safety metrics that involve reductions in hazard levels. Using terms such as ‗zero tolerance' or ‗absence of a microbe' in relation to raw poultry should be avoided unless defined and explained by international agreement.Risk assessment provides a more meaningful approach than a zero-tolerance philosophy and new metrics, such as performance objectives that are linked to human health outcomes, should be utilized throughout the food chain to help in defining risk and identifying ways to reduce adverse effects on public health.PAGE 4 IntroductionThe association between poultry and Salmonella has a long history. More than 50 years ago, pullorum disease and fowl typhoid were common causes of mortality in chicken and turkey flocks, and development of the industry was delayed until these diseases were brought under control (147). Subsequently, a different problem emerged with the increasing isolation of nonhost-specific salmonellae from both poultry products and cases of human salmonellosis.Because of an apparent linkage between the two, fuelled by the intensive nature of poultry production and processing, which was seen to facilitate pathogen transmission, global efforts to control Salmonella in the poultry industry have increasingly gathered pace and particularly in the years following the pandemic spread of Salmonella Enteritidis in the late 1980s. However, fulfillment of this goal has not been easy. In the production of raw foods, such as chicken meat, there are multiple constraints in attempting to eliminate microbial health hazards, and these are both socio-economic and scientific (i.e., biological, technological and analytical). Food animal production and processing in different parts of the world are faced with similar challenges, such as the frequent presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms that rarely cause disease in food animals but may do so in humans, along with the very nature of an industry in which environmental co...

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The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella on raw retail chicken meat in Russia. Broiler chicken carcasses (n = 698) were collected from three regions of Russia: central (i.e., Moscow area), northwest (i.e., St. Petersburg area), and southern (i.e., Krasnodar area). In each region, samples were collected to represent various cities and districts, as well as different types of retail stores and carcass storage temperatures (i.e., chilled and frozen). All chicken samples were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella using a whole-carcass rinse method. The overall Salmonella prevalence was 31.5%. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in Salmonella prevalence by (i) region-29.3% (n = 464) in Moscow, 38.5% (n = 192) in St. Petersburg, and 23.8% (n = 42) in Krasnodar; (ii) retail store type-28.8% (n = 236) in hypermarkets, 31.9% (n = 260) in supermarkets (part of chain stores), 44.3% (n = 61) in independent supermarkets, 42.9% (n = 28) in independent minimarkets, and 26.6% (n = 113) in wet markets; and (iii) poultry company-34.3% (n = 545) on chickens produced by integrated companies compared with 22.9% (n = 118) on chickens produced by nonintegrated companies. Strategies such as good agriculture and management practices should be enhanced to reduce Salmonella prevalence on raw poultry in Russia and therefore increase the safety of chicken products.