45,505 research outputs found
Learning roadmaps for Higher Education
An integrated platform for the support of teaching activities as been developed and deployed at the Aveiro Norte Polytechnic School of the University of Aveiro. In this paper we present an approach to Learning Roadmaps for Higher Education based on this platform. The aprend.e platform – Electronic Integrated System for Learning and Training - has at its core a Learning Management System with a number of plugins. It represents a new challenge for the University of Aveiro for higher education and is already being at its core is the concept of learning roadmaps that act upon two fundamental axes: education and learning. For the teachers, it aims at becoming a self-supporting tool that stimulates the organization and management of the course materials (lectures, presentations, multimedia content, and evaluation materials, amongst others). For the students, the learning roadmap aims at promoting self-study and supervised study, endowing the pupil with the capabilities to find the relevant information and to capture the concepts in the study materials. The outcome will be a stimulating learning process together with an organized management of those materials
Lactobacillus crispatus as the etiological agent in cytolytic vaginosis
Introduction: Lactobacillus spp. dominate the vaginal niche but can also be involved in other vaginal dysbiosis, such as cytolytic vaginosis (CV), which remains poorly studied. It is characterized by a cryptic symptomatology, that often confounds the clinic.
Goals: The aim of this work was to search for the etiological agent of CV, by studying the vaginal microbiome and metabolomics of women afflicted with this disease and compare it with women with other clinical diagnostic.
Methods: Twenty-one vaginal washes have been collected from women attending a gynaecology consultation of a private clinic. The samples were categorized according with clinical diagnosis at the time of sampling (CV, 11; vulvovaginal candidosis, 8; Healthy, 2). The distribution of bacterial species, and their prevalence was assessed by next-generation sequencing of the 16S V4 region. In addition, total lactate D-lactic acid and L-lactic acid was quantified in all washes by a commercial kit, as well as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity.
Results: L. crispatus was dominant (>70%) in all CV samples. Lactate was increased in CV in comparison with other cases. The presence of D-lactic acid isomer was associated with presence of L. crispatus. LDH activity was increased in vaginal washes that tested positive for the presence of L. crispatus, however no direct association was found with CV cases.
Discussion/Conclusions: The microbiome of women afflicted with CV was dominated in all cases by L. crispatus, contrarily with the results obtained for women diagnosed with other clinical symptomatology. In addition, the finding that an increase in D-lactic acid is associated with CV patients can be related to the role of L. crispatus in CV. The determination of LDH activity did not correlate exclusively with CV cases. On the other hand, D-lactic acid and total lactate quantification could be used as a valuable biomarker to diagnose this cryptic vaginal infection.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Assessment of Lactobacillus crispatus´ role in vaginal infections: friend or foe?
Lactobacillus spp. are the most prevalent microorganisms in the vaginal milleu. Several probiotic mechanisms have been associated with Lactobacillus, but the most relevant one is lactate production – resulting in a low pH value, typical of the healthy vagina. However, its pathogenic state is still unknown. We aim to elucidate the role of a commensal vaginal microorganism, Lactobacillus crispatus, in vaginal infections. Twenty-four vaginal washes have been collected from women attending a gynaecology consultation of a private clinic. The samples were categorized according with clinical diagnosis at the time of sampling. The distribution of bacterial species, and their prevalence was assessed by Next-Generation Sequencing of the 16S rRNA V4 region. In addition, L- and D-lactate concentration, and LDH enzymatic activity was quantified in all washes by a commercial kit. Detection of Candida spp. was performed by PCR. L. crispatus was dominant (>70%) in 11 out of 24 samples – diagnosed for vaginal atrophy (VA, 3), cytolytic vaginosis (CV, 2) and lactobacillosis (LB, 2). Lactate was increased in CV, LB and VA cases only. The remaining samples, diagnosed for vulvovaginal candidosis in its majority, had lower prevalence of L. crispatus; and lower to moderate lactate metabolite. There was not a direct relationship between LDH enzymatic activity and clinical diagnosis. L. crispatus dominance, associated with increased lactate production, was observed in CV, LB and VA cases. These results indicate that this microorganism might have a role in dysbiosis of the vagina associated with these specific pathologies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Role of Lactobacillus crispatus in vaginal infections: insights from metagenomics and metabolomics studies
Objective: Lactobacillus spp. constitute the most prevalent bacterial microorganism in the vaginal milleu. Several probiotic mechanisms have been associated with Lactobacillus, but the most relevant one is lactate production – resulting in a low pH value, typical of the healthy vagina. We aim to elucidate the role of a native vaginal microorganism, Lactobacillus crispatus, in vaginal infections.
Methods: Twenty-four vaginal washes have been collected from women (mean 38±14 years of age) attending a gynecology consultation of a private clinic. The samples were categorized according with clinical diagnosis at the time of sampling. The distribution of bacterial species, and their prevalence was assessed by next-generation sequencing of the 16S V4 region. In addition, lactate was quantified in all washes by a commercial kit.
Results: L. crispatus was dominant (>70%) in 11 out of 24 samples – diagnosed for vaginal atrophy (VA, 3), cytolytic vaginosis (CV, 2), lactobacillosis (LB, 2) and vulvovaginal candidosis (VVC, 1). For three samples, diagnostic was inconclusive. Lactate was increased in CV, LB and VA cases only. One sample, diagnosed with VVC had 23% dominance of L. crispatus; and lower lactate metabolite. L. crispatus was not detected in the remaining 12 cases (6 VVC, 4 VA, 1 healthy and 1 inconclusive). Of these, only 5 samples had moderate lactate metabolite.
Conclusions: L. crispatus dominance, associated with increased lactate production, was observed in CV, LB and VA cases. These results indicate that this microorganism might have a role in dysbiosis of the vagina associated with these specific pathologies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Numerical study of a model for non-equilibrium wetting
We revisit the scaling properties of a model for non-equilibrium wetting
[Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2710 (1997)], correcting previous estimates of the
critical exponents and providing a complete scaling scheme. Moreover, we
investigate a special point in the phase diagram, where the model exhibits a
roughening transition related to directed percolation. We argue that in the
vicinity of this point evaporation from the middle of plateaus can be
interpreted as an external field in the language of directed percolation. This
analogy allows us to compute the crossover exponent and to predict the form of
the phase transition line close to its terminal point.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
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