European integration assessed in the light of the 'rules vs. standards debate'

The interplay of various legal systems in the European Union (EU) has long triggered a debate on the tension between uniformity and diversity of Member States' (MS) laws. This debate takes place among European legal scholars and is also paralleled by economic scholars, e.g. in the ambit of the 'theory of federalism'. This paper takes an innovative perspective on the discrepancy between 'centralized' and 'decentralized' law-making in the EU by assessing it with the help of the rules versus standards debate. When should the EU legislator grant the national legislator leeway in the formulation of new laws and when should all be fixed ex ante at European level? The literature on the 'optimal shape of legal norms' shall be revisited in the light of law-making in the EU, centrally dealing with the question how much discretion shall be given to the national legislator; and under which circumstances. This paper enhances the established decisive factors for the choice of a rule or a standard in a national setting (complexity, volatility, judges' specialization and frequency of application) by two new crucial factors (switching costs and the benefit of uniformity in terms of information costs) in order to assess law-making policies at EU level

Phylogeny in Aid of the Present and Novel Microbial Lineages: Diversity in Bacillus

Bacillus represents microbes of high economic, medical and biodefense importance. Bacillus strain identification based on 16S rRNA sequence analyses is invariably limited to species level. Secondly, certain discrepancies exist in the segregation of Bacillus subtilis strains. In the RDP/NCBI databases, out of a total of 2611 individual 16S rDNA sequences belonging to the 175 different species of the genus Bacillus, only 1586 have been identified up to species level. 16S rRNA sequences of Bacillus anthracis (153 strains), B. cereus (211 strains), B. thuringiensis (108 strains), B. subtilis (271 strains), B. licheniformis (131 strains), B. pumilus (83 strains), B. megaterium (47 strains), B. sphaericus (42 strains), B. clausii (39 strains) and B. halodurans (36 strains) were considered for generating species-specific framework and probes as tools for their rapid identification. Phylogenetic segregation of 1121, 16S rDNA sequences of 10 different Bacillus species in to 89 clusters enabled us to develop a phylogenetic frame work of 34 representative sequences. Using this phylogenetic framework, 305 out of 1025, 16S rDNA sequences presently classified as Bacillus sp. could be identified up to species level. This identification was supported by 20 to 30 nucleotides long signature sequences and in silico restriction enzyme analysis specific to the 10 Bacillus species. This integrated approach resulted in identifying around 30% of Bacillus sp. up to species level and revealed that B. subtilis strains can be segregated into two phylogenetically distinct groups, such that one of them may be renamed

ENTEROTOXIGENIC Staphylococcus IN MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS, ITS ENTEROTOXINS AND RELATED GENES: A REVIEW

This review summarizes publications about the occurrence of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus and its enterotoxins in milk and dairy products, outbreaks and sporadic cases of staphylococcal food poisoning, enterotoxin types and its genes. Among the genus Staphylococcus, S. aureus is the prevalent species in milk and cheeses, mainly homemade cheeses, and is often associated with outbreaks of food poisoning. Cheese can be contaminated by raw milk, the manipulator and, the processing environment. An important source of raw milk contamination is the bovine mastitis, which have S. aureus as the most prevalent etiologic agent. 18 types of enterotoxinas (A, B, C(1,2,3,) D, and, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R and U) have already been identified and their genes have also been described. Reports of the occurrence of coagulase negative strains with enterotoxigenic potential, in milk and milk products, indicate the necessity of reevaluation of the microbiological standards established by Brazil's legislation.261718

Regulation of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression by tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta in first trimester human decidual cells: implications for preeclampsia.

The current study describes a statistically significant increase in macrophages (CD68-positive cells) in the decidua of preeclamptic patients. To elucidate the regulation of this monocyte infiltration, expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) was assessed in leukocyte-free first trimester decidual cells. Confluent decidual cells were primed for 7 days in either estradiol or estradiol plus medroxyprogesterone acetate to mimic the decidualizing steroidal milieu of the luteal phase and early pregnancy. The medium was exchanged for a serum-free defined medium containing corresponding steroids / tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- or interleukin (IL)-1. After 24 hours, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measurements indicated that the addition of medroxyprogesterone acetate did not affect MCP-1 output, whereas 10 ng/ml of TNF- or IL-1 increased output by 83.5-fold 20.6 and 103.1-fold 14.7, respectively (mean SEM, n 8, P < 0.05). Concentration-response comparisons revealed that even 0.01 ng/ml of TNF- or IL-1 elevated MCP-1 output by more than 15-fold. Western blotting confirmed the enzymelinked immunosorbent assay results, and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction confirmed corresponding effects on MCP-1 mRNA levels. The current study demonstrates that TNF- and IL-1 enhance MCP-1 in first trimester decidua. This finding suggests a mechanism by which recruitment of excess macrophages to the decidua impairs endovascular trophoblast invasion, the primary placental defect of preeclampsia