Knowledge transfer from a perspective of quadruple helix: Initial findings from the financial services sector in Bahrain

The study aims to explore the interactions involving key 'Quadruple helix' actors in the financial services sector in Bahrain. As the study has an exploratory purpose, a qualitative methodological approach was employed using the key principles of 'Grounded Theory'. The initial findings show that the inter-organizational knowledge transfer between the diverse stakeholders is often considered problematic. The interactions were mostly perceived as a double and a triple helix, while limited focus was given to quadruple helix interactions. Moreover, the networking dynamics revealed many examples of unidirectional interactions and less of bidirectional interactions where all collaborating partners learn from each other. These interactions can offer valuable insights into power relations, as power differences emerge in exchange networks that are enormously in one direction. This study sheds light on the tensions and gaps associated with quadruple helix interactions. The study has implications for policy makers and practitioners by identifying the need to implement interventions to overcome the gaps and tensions that affect the willingness to engage in knowledge transfer

Preoperative assessment of deep myometrial and cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma: comparison of magnetic resonance imaging and histopathologic evaluation

This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the detection of deep myometrial invasion and cervical extension by endometrial carcinoma. This prospective study included 101 patients with histologically documented endometrial carcinoma, between July 1998 and April 2004. The findings of preoperative pelvic MRI were compared with histological diagnosis. From 101 cases studied by pelvic MRI, 43 were classified as deep myometrial invasion (50% of myometrium), where the pathological evaluation confirmed as having deep myometrial invasion. Cervical extension in the MRI study was found in 19 cases. Pathologic study found cervical extension and/or invasion in 31 cases including all cases identified by MRI. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of MRI were 95%, 89%, 100%, detecting deep myometrial invasion and 88%, 61%, 100%, detecting cervical invasion, respectively. The high accuracy achieved makes MRI an adequate method for determine the depth of myometrial and cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma

Why biofilms are important in nosocomial infections: the state of the art

As infeções nosocomiais são uma realidade constante no ambiente hospitalar. São responsáveis por um elevado número de casos de infeções e são notoriamente difíceis de erradicar. Um dos motivos pelos quais o tratamento das infeções nosocomiais é difícil deve-se ao facto de muitas destas infeções serem causadas por biofilmes microbianos. Os biofilmes podem ser definidos como comunidades de micro-organismos que vivem aderidos a uma superfície e envoltos numa complexa mistura de compostos tais como proteínas, polissacáridos e DNA extracelular. O crescimento de micro-organismos sob a forma de biofilmes dificulta a sua erradicação, pois estas estruturas podem ser consideradas adaptações dos micro-organismos, de forma a continuar no hospedeiro. É especialmente relevante ter em consideração as infeções causadas por biofilmes no contexto hospitalar, pois podem necessitar de abordagens diferentes para a sua erradicação. Este artigo de revisão tem como objetivo reunir o conhecimento existente do papel dos biofilmes microbianos nas infeções nosocomiais.Nowadays nosocomial infections are a reality in all hospital environments. They are the cause of a high number of infections, morbidity and mortality, and are recognised as being notoriously difficult to eradicate. One of the reasons for the problems in the treatment of nosocomial infection is the fact that many of the pathogens involved in this infections form biofilms. Biofilms are normally defined as communities of microorganisms adhered to a surface and surrounded by a polymeric matrix of extracellular components, such as proteins, polysaccharides and eDNA. The growth of microorganisms in biofilms makes their eradication difficult as this type of growth can be considered an adaptation of the pathogens in order to improve their persistence in the host. As such it is of special interest to account for the role of biofilms in nosocomial infections so that the appropriate approach can be taken in order to eradicate them. The aim of this article is to review the existing information on the prevalence of nosocomial infections potentially caused by biofilms(undefined

Lignin extraction from brewer's spent grain and evaluation of its antioxidant capacity

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Deep eutectic solvent as a green alternative for lignin recovery: Optimization of lignin extraction from agrofood residues through experimental design

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Olive tree pruning material as a source of lignin with antioxidant capacity: optimization of lignin extraction through experimental design

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Optimization of lignin extraction from grape stalks and evaluation of antioxidant activity

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cell-to-cell aggregation in S. epidermidis and its effect on quantification of total and viable bacteria within biofilms

Biofilms forming on the surface of indwelling medical devices by microorganisms such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, act as a source of acute infections. Since colonization of medical devices represents a serious problem in public healthcare-associated infections, bacteria forming biofilms have been an important issue often studied. Proper quantification of viable bacteria within S. epidermidis biofilms can however be challenging. Often, biofilm quantification of S. epidermidis is performed with colorimetric methods but these do not provide information regarding viable bacteria. CFU counting is often used but in the case of S. epidermidis, a bacteria that normally grows in clusters of cells, sonication is always required in order to obtain individual cells. In older biofilms, the number of dormant bacteria is expected to be higher than in young biofilms. Therefore, disrupting a biofilm structure without damage the cells in older biofilms can be a challenge. Here, biofilm samples of Staphylococcus epidermidis 9142 strain grown for 24, 48 or 72H in TSB supplemented with 0,5% glucose were ressuspended 1 mL of physiological saline solution and sonicated at different cycles. Following sonication biofilms were quantified using three different approaches: colorimetric methods, CFU counting, and microscopic evaluation using a Neübauer chamber coupled with staining with fluorescence dye LIVE/DEAD® BacLight ™ Bacterial Viability Kit (Molecular Probes Inc). Cell counting was optimized using Sigma Scan Pro and validated against manual counting of the images. In the conditions used, higher numbers of sonication cycles prevented any clustering of cells but were affecting cell viability. On the other hand, lower numbers of sonication cycles were not effective in completely eliminating cell clusters, especially in 72H-old biofilms. The presence of the cell clusters at the lower sonication cycles resulted in high variability of CFU counting. On the other hand, cell counting with a Neübauer chamber was the best way to proper quantify the total and viable bacteria within the biofilms. By using the automatic counting software and validating the methodology, quantification of biofilms was relatively fast and reliable to perform. Keywords Biofilm; Staphylococcus epidermidis; Sonication, automatic cell countin

Optimization of a protocol for gene expression using biofilm cells from S. epidermidis

Gene expression assays are one of the most common tools used nowadays to evaluate the importance of genes in many different life sciences areas, namely, in clinical microbiology. Since most gene expression kits for qPCR have been optimized for assays with planktonic cells it is important to also optimize protocols for this type of assays, to be used with biofilms. Biofilms are communities of bacteria that grow attached to a surface and embedded in an extracellular matrix, what poses some difficulties to RNA extraction. Proper RNA quality is of the upmost importance during all the downstream processes, namely cDNA synthesis and qPCR quantification. The aim of this work was to optimize a protocol for gene quantification from biofilm samples of S. epidermidis, a known biofilm forming nosocomial pathogen. This optimization was made in many different steps, from the RNA extraction (a crucial step) to complementary DNA (cDNA) synthesis and qPCR reactions, using growth conditions well described in the literature, so that the results obtained could be anticipated beforehand. The expression of the icaA gene was tested from RNA extracted with a custom made protocol and then quantified using a combination of 4 commercial kits of cDNA synthesis and 4 commercial kits of qPCR quantification. Furthermore, the volumes of reaction were either the volume recommended by the manufacturer (20 µl) or half that volume. From our results, we conclude that there were no significant differences of icaA expression when using any of the qPCR kits used in this study. However, using different cDNA synthesis kits, a statistical difference was found in the results obtained using one of the kits, with an icaA expression near 4-fold different than that obtained using the other kits. Interestingly, the 10 µl reaction generally resulted in higher icaA expression than when using the 20 µl reaction volume, but within the expected range of values, indicating that any of the two volumes could be used for quantification studies. Excluding the cDNA kit with low icaA levels expression, the average of icaA expression induced by glucose was similar in both cDNA and qPCR optimization steps (9.5 and 9.4 fold, respectively). The obtained protocol provides reliable results, comparable to the ones in literature, with the advantage of saving reagents. Furthermore, our results confirm that cDNA synthesis is a more crucial step that previous thought