Nutrimedia : A novel web-based resource for the general public that evaluates the veracity of nutrition claims using the GRADE approach

The objective of Nutrimedia is to evaluate, based on the scientific evidence, the veracity of nutrition claims disseminated to the public by the media. In this article, we describe the methodology, characteristics and contents of this web-based resource, as well as its web traffic and media impact since it was launched. Nutrimedia uses a systematic process to evaluate common beliefs, claims from newspapers and advertising identified and selected by its research team, as well as questions from the public. After formulating a structured question for each claim, we conduct a pragmatic search, prioritizing guidelines and/or systematic reviews. We evaluate the certainty of the evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach, and classify the veracity of each claim into seven categories (true, probably true, possibly true, possibly false, probably false, false, and uncertain). For each evaluation, we develop a scientific report, a plain language summary, a summary of findings table, and, in some cases, a video. From November 2017 to May 2019, we published 30 evaluations (21 were related to foods, six to diets, and three to supplements), most of which were triggered by questions from the public (40%; 12/30). Overall, nearly half of the claims were classified as uncertain (47%; 14/30). Nutrimedia received 47,265 visitors, with a total of 181,360 pages viewed. The project and its results were reported in 84 written media and 386 websites from Spain and 14 other countries, mostly from Latin America. To our knowledge, Nutrimedia is the first web-based resource for the public that evaluates the certainty of evidence and the veracity of nutrition claims using the GRADE approach. The scientific rigor combined with the use of friendly presentation formats are distinctive features of this resource, developed to help the public to make informed choices about nutrition

GVPC Medium Manufactured without Oxygen Improves the Growth of Legionella spp. and Exhibits Enhanced Selectivity Properties

ABSTRACTGlycine-vancomycin-polymyxin-cycloheximide agar (GVPC) is a recommended medium for the detection of Legionella spp. in water samples. However, its quality could be improved in terms of recovery of Legionella spp. and selectivity properties. Modifications were introduced in GVPC manufacture: autoclaving conditions (115°C, 15 min) and atmosphere during component-stirring (removal of oxygen and N2 injection). The use of softer autoclaving conditions (115°C, 15 min) improved the growth of Legionella anisa by the spiral method and Legionella pneumophila after membrane filtration. The medium manufactured with O2 removal and autoclaving for 15 min at 115°C allowed a faster growth of L. pneumophila (colonies visible at day 2) and a notable increase of L. anisa growth (colonies appearing at day 3, and statistically significant numbers of CFU at day 5). After 3 to 5 days of incubation, the improved media showed higher selectivity properties, particularly for Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027. A further improvement was achieved by the addition of N2 during ingredient stirring, leading to a statistically significant faster growth of L. pneumophila at days 2 and 3 and L. anisa at day 3. Selectivity properties were also enhanced, resulting in the complete inhibition of both E. faecalis strains and Escherichia coli and complete-partial inhibition of P. aeruginosa. Oxygen removal during GVPC manufacture using a vacuum pump system promotes the growth of L. pneumophila and L. anisa, and markedly inhibits the growth of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and E. faecalis. IMPORTANCE Currently, GVPC is a recommended medium for the detection of Legionella spp. in water samples. However, recovery of Legionella spp. and selectivity properties can be improved. GVPC medium manufactured without oxygen improved the growth of Legionella pneumophila and Legionella anisa. Oxygen removal during GVPC manufacture also improved selectivity properties. A further improvement was achieved by the addition of N2 during ingredient stirring, leading to a faster growth of L. pneumophila at days 2 and 3 and L. anisa at day 3 and enhancement of selectivity properties. The introduction of the modified GVPC medium in routine practice can allow a better detection of Legionella spp. in water samples

Improvement of Mueller-Kauffman Tetrathionate-Novobiocin (MKTTn) enrichment medium for the detection of Salmonella enterica by the addition of wx situ-generated tetrathionate

The detection of Salmonella in food is based on the use of a selective enrichment broth such as Muller-Kauffman Tetrathionate-Novobiocin (MKTTn), in which tetrathionate plays a key role by providing Salmonella with a growth advantage. As sodium tetrathionate is unstable, it is generated in situ by the addition of iodine (Lugol's solution) before seeding. This step is cumbersome as the solution is easily spilled, compromising the performance of the medium and hindering the work of technicians. The aim of this study was to optimize MKTTn broth by generating tetrathionate ex situ through an external reaction between iodine and thiosulphate followed by lyophilization. Quality control procedures were performed to compare the modified and original media, testing pure productivity (enrichment with 50-120 CFU of Salmonella Thyphimurim ATCC 14028 and Salmonella Enteritidis ATCC 13076 and plating on Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate agar, XLD), mixed productivity (50-120 CFU of Salmonella strains and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli at ≥104 CFU and XLD plating) and selectivity (≥104 CFU of P. aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis and plating on Tryptone Casein Soy agar, TSA). The modified MKTTn medium (S/L) performed comparably with the original medium in terms of growth of both Salmonella strains (>300 colonies in XLD), alone or with P. aeruginosa and E. coli. Quantitative assays showed no statistically significant differences in the number of colonies grown on XLD after 10-5 dilution (p=0.7015 with S. Thyphimurim ATCC 14028 and p=0.2387 with S. Enteritidis ATCC 13076; ANOVA test). MKTTn medium (S/L) was also selective against E. coli (≤100 colonies) and E. faecalis (<10 colonies). These results suggest that adding tetrathionate as a lyophilisate (S/L) is a feasible alternative to the use of Lugol's solution for the preparation of MKTTn enrichment broth and does not affect the properties of the mediu

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Nutrimedia: a novel web-based resource for the general public that evaluates the veracity of nutrition claims using the GRADE approach

The objective of Nutrimedia is to evaluate, based on the scientific evidence, the veracity of nutrition claims disseminated to the public by the media. In this article, we describe the methodology, characteristics and contents of this web-based resource, as well as its web traffic and media impact since it was launched. Nutrimedia uses a systematic process to evaluate common beliefs, claims from newspapers and advertising identified and selected by its research team, as well as questions from the public. After formulating a structured question for each claim, we conduct a pragmatic search, prioritizing guidelines and/or systematic reviews. We evaluate the certainty of the evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach, and classify the veracity of each claim into seven categories (true, probably true, possibly true, possibly false, probably false, false, and uncertain). For each evaluation, we develop a scientific report, a plain language summary, a summary of findings table, and, in some cases, a video. From November 2017 to May 2019, we published 30 evaluations (21 were related to foods, six to diets, and three to supplements), most of which were triggered by questions from the public (40%; 12/30). Overall, nearly half of the claims were classified as uncertain (47%; 14/30). Nutrimedia received 47,265 visitors, with a total of 181,360 pages viewed. The project and its results were reported in 84 written media and 386 websites from Spain and 14 other countries, mostly from Latin America. To our knowledge, Nutrimedia is the first web-based resource for the public that evaluates the certainty of evidence and the veracity of nutrition claims using the GRADE approach. The scientific rigor combined with the use of friendly presentation formats are distinctive features of this resource, developed to help the public to make informed choices about nutrition.Nutrimedia has been partially supported by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FCT-16-11294 and FCT-17-12460). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Bt crops resistant to insects

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SoK: Cross-border Criminal Investigations and Digital Evidence

Digital evidence underpin the majority of crimes as their analysis is an integral part of almost every criminal investigation. Even if we temporarily disregard the numerous challenges in the collection and analysis of digital evidence, the exchange of the evidence among the different stakeholders has many thorny issues. Of specific interest are cross-border criminal investigations as the complexity is significantly high due to the heterogeneity of legal frameworks which beyond time bottlenecks can also become prohibiting. The aim of this article is to analyse the current state of practice of cross-border investigations considering the efficacy of current collaboration protocols along with the challenges and drawbacks to be overcome. Further to performing a legally-oriented research treatise, we recall all the challenges raised in the literature and discuss them from a more practical yet global perspective. Thus, this article paves the way to enabling practitioners and stakeholders to leverage horizontal strategies to fill in the identified gaps timely and accurately

Conformational dynamism for DNA interaction in the Salmonella RcsB response regulator

17 páginas, 7 figuras, 1 tablaThe RcsCDB phosphorelay system controls an extremely large regulon in Enterobacteriaceae that involves processes such as biofilm formation, flagella production, synthesis of extracellular capsules and cell division. Therefore, fine-tuning of this system is essential for virulence in pathogenic microorganisms of this group. The final master effector of the RcsCDB system is the response regulator (RR) RcsB, which activates or represses multiple genes by binding to different promoter regions. This regulatory activity of RcsB can be done alone or in combination with additional transcriptional factors in phosphorylated or dephosphorylated states. The capacity of RcsB to interact with multiple promoters and partners, either dephosphorylated or phosphorylated, suggests an extremely conformational dynamism for this RR. To shed light on the activation mechanism of RcsB and its implication on promoter recognition, we solved the crystal structure of full-length RcsB from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in the presence and absence of a phosphomimetic molecule BeF3-. These two novel structures have guided an extensive site-directed mutagenesis study at the structural and functional level that confirms RcsB conformational plasticity and dynamism. Our data allowed us to propose a β5-T switch mechanism where phosphorylation is coupled to alternative DNA binding ways and which highlights the conformational dynamism of RcsB to be so pleiotropic.Spanish Government (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) Grants [BIO2013–42619-P, BIO2016–78571-P to A. M, BFU2016–78606-P to P.C, BIO2016–77639-P to F.G.dP]; Valencian Government Grant Prometeo [II/2014/029 to A.M.]; Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Ramón y Cajal contract (to P.C.); Diamond Light Source block allocation group (BAG) Proposal [MX10121]; Spanish Synchrotron Radiation Facility ALBA Proposal [2015071314]. Funding for open access charge: Spanish Government (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) Grants [BIO2013-42619-P, BIO2016-78571-P to A. M, BIO2016-77639-P to F.G.dP, BFU2016-78606-P to P.C.]; Valencian Government grant Prometeo [II/2014/029 to A.M.].Peer reviewe