3,140 research outputs found
Shelf-life extension and quality improvement of a Portuguese traditional ready-to-eat meat product with vinegar
Cabec a de xara is a traditional ready-to-eat meat product (RTEMP) from the Portuguese region of Alentejo. It is a moulded galantine made of low value pork pieces. The aim of this work was to test the addition of vinegar in reducing the spoilage microbiota, as well as controlling Listeria monocytogenes, in order
to increase the shelf-life of cabec a de xara. Physicochemical (fatty acids and biogenic amines profiles),
microbiological (mesophiles, psychrotrophic bacteria, enterobacteria, yeasts and L. monocytogenes) and
sensory analyses were performed throughout the storage period. RTEMP vinegar samples always showed
lower microbiological counts than control samples. Moreover, RTEMP vinegar samples showed significantly lower contents in vasoactive amines throughout the storage period, which might be explained by
their significantly lower enterobacteria counts. Concerning sensory analysis, RTEMP vinegar samples generally scored higher in overall appreciation. Our results showed that shelf-life of cabec a de xara may be
extended from 1 to 3 months
Power in a Pandemic: Teachersâ Unions and Their Responses to School Reopening
Drawing on Bachrach and Baratzâs first and second faces of interest group power, we explore the relationship between teachersâ union power and reopening decisions during the fall 2020 semester in 250 large districts around the United States. We leverage a self-collected panel data set of reopening decisions coupled with measures of teachersâ union first face power (drawn from social media postings on teachersâ unionsâ Facebook pages) and second face power (operationalized as district size, whether the school district negotiates a collective bargaining agreement with the teachersâ union, the length of the collective bargaining agreement, and the amount of revenue raised by the union). We found that school districts where teachersâ unions exhibit strong second face power (but not first face power) were less likely to start the school year with in-person instruction, were less likely to ever open during fall semester with in-person instruction and spent fewer weeks in in-person learning
IP3 sensitizes TRPV4 channel to the mechano- and osmotransducing messenger 5âČ-6âČ-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid
Mechanical and osmotic sensitivity of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channel depends on phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activation and the subsequent production of the arachidonic acid metabolites, epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET). We show that both high viscous loading and hypotonicity stimuli in native ciliated epithelial cells use PLA2âEET as the primary pathway to activate TRPV4. Under conditions of low PLA2 activation, both also use extracellular ATP-mediated activation of phospholipase C (PLC)âinositol trisphosphate (IP3) signaling to support TRPV4 gating. IP3, without being an agonist itself, sensitizes TRPV4 to EET in epithelial ciliated cells and cells heterologously expressing TRPV4, an effect inhibited by the IP3 receptor antagonist xestospongin C. Coimmunoprecipitation assays indicated a physical interaction between TRPV4 and IP3 receptor 3. Collectively, our study suggests a functional coupling between plasma membrane TRPV4 channels and intracellular store Ca2+ channels required to initiate and maintain the oscillatory Ca2+ signal triggered by high viscosity and hypotonic stimuli that do not reach a threshold level of PLA2 activation
Atrial Fibrillation in Heart Failure Is Associated with High Levels of Circulating microRNA-199a-5p and 22â5p and a Defective Regulation of Intracellular Calcium and Cell-to-Cell Communication
HL-1 cells; L-type calcium channels; Calcium regulationCĂ©lulas HL-1; Canales de calcio tipo L; RegulaciĂłn del calcioCel·lules HL-1; Canals de calci tipus L; RegulaciĂł del calciMicroRNAs (miRNAs) participate in atrial remodeling and atrial fibrillation (AF) promotion. We determined the circulating miRNA profile in patients with AF and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), and its potential role in promoting the arrhythmia. In plasma of 98 patients with HFrEF (49 with AF and 49 in sinus rhythm, SR), differential miRNA expression was determined by high-throughput microarray analysis followed by replication of selected candidates. Validated miRNAs were determined in human atrial samples, and potential arrhythmogenic mechanisms studied in HL-1 cells. Circulating miR-199a-5p and miR-22-5p were significantly increased in HFrEF patients with AF versus those with HFrEF in SR. Both miRNAs, but particularly miR-199a-5p, were increased in atrial samples of patients with AF. Overexpression of both miRNAs in HL-1 cells resulted in decreased protein levels of L-type Ca2+ channel, NCX and connexin-40, leading to lower basal intracellular Ca2+ levels, fewer inward currents, a moderate reduction in Ca2+ buffering post-caffeine exposure, and a deficient cell-to-cell communication. In conclusion, circulating miR-199a-5p and miR-22-5p are higher in HFrEF patients with AF, with similar findings in human atrial samples of AF patients. Cells exposed to both miRNAs exhibited altered Ca2+ handling and defective cell-to-cell communication, both findings being potential arrhythmogenic mechanisms.This work was funded by the following grants, awarded to B.B.: Sociedad Española de CardiologĂa, SecciĂłn de Arritmias y ElectrofisiologĂa 2012; Sociedad Española de CardiologĂa, SecciĂłn de Insuficiencia CardĂaca 2013; Fondo InvestigaciĂłn Sanitaria (FIS)âInstituto Carlos III 2013 (PI13/01830); and Societat Catalana de Cardiologia 2016. Awarded to K.W.A-A. and S.R.: British Heart Foundation (BHF) Intermediate Research Fellowship. Awarded to J.M.F.F.: grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RTI2018-094809-B-I00). âMarĂa de Maeztuâ Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D to the Departament de CiĂšncies Experimentals i de la Salut (MDM-2014-0370) and FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional) also contributed to this work
Observations of SN2011fe with INTEGRAL
SN2011fe was detected by the Palomar Transient Factory on August 24th 2011 in
M101 few hours after the explosion. From the early spectra it was immediately
realized that it was a Type Ia supernova thus making this event the brightest
one discovered in the last twenty years. In this paper the observations
performed with the instruments on board of INTEGRAL (SPI, IBIS/ISGRI, JEM-X and
OMC) before and after the maximum of the optical light as well as the
interpretation in terms of the existing models of --ray emission from
such kind of supernovae are reported. All INTEGRAL high-energy have only been
able to provide upper limits to the expected emission due to the decay of
Ni. These bounds allow to reject explosions involving a massive white
dwarf in the sub--Chandrasekhar scenario. On the other hand, the optical light
curve obtained with the OMC camera suggests that the event was produced by a
delayed detonation of a CO white dwarf that produced M of
Ni. In this particular case, INTEGRAL would have only been able to
detect the early --ray emission if the supernova had occurred at a
distance of 2 -3 Mpc, although the brightest event could be visible up to
distances larger by a factor two.Comment: Proceedings of "An INTEGRAL view of the high-energy sky (the first 10
years)" the 9th INTEGRAL Workshop, October 15-19, 2012, Paris, France, in
Proceedings of Science (INTEGRAL 2012), Eds. A. Goldwurm, F. Lebrun and C.
Winkler, http://pos.sissa.it/cgi-bin/reader/conf.cgi?confid=176, id number
PoS (INTEGRAL 2012) 103 (2013
Observation of SN2011fe with INTEGRAL. I. Pre--maximum phase
SN2011fe was detected by the Palomar Transient Factory on August 24th 2011 in
M101 a few hours after the explosion. From the early optical spectra it was
immediately realized that it was a Type Ia supernova thus making this event the
brightest one discovered in the last twenty years. The distance of the event
offered the rare opportunity to perform a detailed observation with the
instruments on board of INTEGRAL to detect the gamma-ray emission expected from
the decay chains of Ni. The observations were performed in two runs, one
before and around the optical maximum, aimed to detect the early emission from
the decay of Ni and another after this maximum aimed to detect the
emission of Co. The observations performed with the instruments on board
of INTEGRAL (SPI, IBIS/ISGRI, JEMX and OMC) have been analyzed and compared
with the existing models of gamma-ray emission from such kind of supernovae. In
this paper, the analysis of the gamma-ray emission has been restricted to the
first epoch. Both, SPI and IBIS/ISGRI, only provide upper-limits to the
expected emission due to the decay of Ni. These upper-limits on the
gamma-ray flux are of 7.1 10 ph/s/cm for the 158 keV line
and of 2.3 10 ph/s/cm for the 812 keV line. These bounds
allow to reject at the level explosions involving a massive white
dwarf, M in the sub--Chandrasekhar scenario and specifically
all models that would have substantial amounts of radioactive Ni in the
outer layers of the exploding star responsible of the SN2011fe event. The
optical light curve obtained with the OMC camera also suggests that SN2011fe
was the outcome of the explosion, possibly a delayed detonation although other
models are possible, of a CO white dwarf that synthesized M
of Ni. For this specific model.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 10 pages, 10 figure
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Beauty surveillance: the digital self-monitoring cultures of neoliberalism
This paper argues that âbeauty appsâ are transforming the arena of appearance politics and foregrounds a theoretical architecture for critically understanding them. Informed by a feminist-Foucaultian framework, it argues that beauty apps offer a technology of gender which brings together digital self-monitoring and postfeminist modalities of subjecthood to produce an hitherto unprecedented regulatory gaze upon women that is marked by the intensification, extensification and psychologization of surveillance.
The paper is divided into four sections. First it introduces the literature on digital self-tracking. Secondly it sets out our understanding of neoliberalism and postfeminism. Thirdly it looks at beauty and surveillance, before offering, in the final section, a typology of appearance apps. This is followed by a discussion of the modes of address/authority deployed in these apps â especially what we call âsurveillant sisterhoodâ - and the kinds of entrepreneurial subjectivity they constitute. The paper seeks to make a contribution to feminist surveillance studies and argues that much more detailed research is needed to critically examine beauty apps
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