Alien Registration- Bateman, Laura (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/24110/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Bateman, Laura (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/24110/thumbnail.jp

Biotechnological applications of functional metagenomics in the food and pharmaceutical industries

peer-reviewedMicroorganisms are found throughout nature, thriving in a vast range of environmental conditions. The majority of them are unculturable or difficult to culture by traditional methods. Metagenomics enables the study of all microorganisms, regardless of whether they can be cultured or not, through the analysis of genomic data obtained directly from an environmental sample, providing knowledge of the species present, and allowing the extraction of information regarding the functionality of microbial communities in their natural habitat. Function-based screenings, following the cloning and expression of metagenomic DNA in a heterologous host, can be applied to the discovery of novel proteins of industrial interest encoded by the genes of previously inaccessible microorganisms. Functional metagenomics has considerable potential in the food and pharmaceutical industries, where it can, for instance, aid (i) the identification of enzymes with desirable technological properties, capable of catalyzing novel reactions or replacing existing chemically synthesized catalysts which may be difficult or expensive to produce, and able to work under a wide range of environmental conditions encountered in food and pharmaceutical processing cycles including extreme conditions of temperature, pH, osmolarity, etc; (ii) the discovery of novel bioactives including antimicrobials active against microorganisms of concern both in food and medical settings; (iii) the investigation of industrial and societal issues such as antibiotic resistance development. This review article summarizes the state-of-the-art functional metagenomic methods available and discusses the potential of functional metagenomic approaches to mine as yet unexplored environments to discover novel genes with biotechnological application in the food and pharmaceutical industries.Science Foundation Ireland(SFI)Grant Number 13/SIRG/215

Inflation and Supersymmetry Breaking

We study the connection between inflation and supersymmetry breaking in the context of an O'Raifeartaigh model which can account for both hybrid inflation and a true vacuum where supersymmetry is spontaneously broken. For a weakly coupled inflaton field, the dynamics during the inflationary phase can be determined by the supersymmetry breaking scale $M_S\sim 10^{10}$ GeV, even if $H_I >> m_{3/2}$. The spectrum of density fluctuations is then almost scale invariant, with a spectral index $n-1={\cal O}(M_G^2/M_P^2)$. The mass parameter $M_G$ of the O'Raifeartaigh model is determined by the COBE normalization for the cosmic microwave background to be the grand unification scale, $M_G \sim 10^{16}$ GeV.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures; one paragraph and references added, to appear in PL

ArtMaps: A Technology for Looking at Tate’s Collection

This article presents ArtMaps, a crowdsourcing web-based app for desktop and mobile use that allows users to locate, move and annotate artworks in the Tate collection in relation to one or more sets of locations. Here the authors show that ArtMaps extends the ‘space’ of the museum and facilitates a new, pluriperspectival, way of looking at art

ArtMaps: interpreting the spatial footprints of artworks

Creating and utilizing simple links between items and locations in map-based systems has become a mainstream component of modern computing. In this paper, we explore support for ‘art mapping’, an activity that requires consideration of more complex interpretations of spatial relationships as users engage with identifying locations of relevance to artworks. Through a user study of the ArtMaps platform, and an exploratory study with professional artists, we identify diverse interpretations of spatial meaning in relation to art. We find that art mapping highlights potential for more active engagement with art through technology, but challenges existing systems for spatial representation. Through connecting our findings with work on designing for interpretation, and on space and place in HCI, we contribute new understanding of creating engagement through the spatial interpretation of art, and define potential characteristics and uses of holistic ‘footprints’ for artworks

Observational constraints on an inflation model with a running mass

We explore a model of inflation where the inflaton mass-squared is generated at a high scale by gravity-mediated soft supersymmetry breaking, and runs at lower scales to the small value required for slow-roll inflation. The running is supposed to come from the coupling of the inflaton to a non-Abelian gauge field. In contrast with earlier work, we do not constrain the magnitude of the supersymmetry breaking scale, and we find that the model might work even if squark and slepton masses come from gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. With the inflaton and gaugino masses in the expected range, and $\alpha = g^2/4\pi$ in the range $10^{-2}$ to $10^{-3}$ (all at the high scale) the model can give the observed cosmic microwave anisotropy, and a spectral index in the observed range. The latter has significant variation with scale, which can confirm or rule out the model in the forseeable future.Comment: Latex, 19 pages, 14 figures, uses epsf.st

New Weapons to Fight Old Enemies: Novel Strategies for the (Bio)control of Bacterial Biofilms in the Food Industry

peer-reviewedBiofilms are microbial communities characterized by their adhesion to solid surfaces and the production of a matrix of exopolymeric substances, consisting of polysaccharides, proteins, DNA and lipids, which surround the microorganisms lending structural integrity and a unique biochemical profile to the biofilm. Biofilm formation enhances the ability of the producer/s to persist in a given environment. Pathogenic and spoilage bacterial species capable of forming biofilms are a significant problem for the healthcare and food industries, as their biofilm-forming ability protects them from common cleaning processes and allows them to remain in the environment post-sanitation. In the food industry, persistent bacteria colonize the inside of mixing tanks, vats and tubing, compromising food safety and quality. Strategies to overcome bacterial persistence through inhibition of biofilm formation or removal of mature biofilms are therefore necessary. Current biofilm control strategies employed in the food industry (cleaning and disinfection, material selection and surface preconditioning, plasma treatment, ultrasonication, etc.), although effective to a certain point, fall short of biofilm control. Efforts have been explored, mainly with a view to their application in pharmaceutical and healthcare settings, which focus on targeting molecular determinants regulating biofilm formation. Their application to the food industry would greatly aid efforts to eradicate undesirable bacteria from food processing environments and, ultimately, from food products. These approaches, in contrast to bactericidal approaches, exert less selective pressure which in turn would reduce the likelihood of resistance development. A particularly interesting strategy targets quorum sensing systems, which regulate gene expression in response to fluctuations in cell-population density governing essential cellular processes including biofilm formation. This review article discusses the problems associated with bacterial biofilms in the food industry and summarizes the recent strategies explored to inhibit biofilm formation, with special focus on those targeting quorum sensing.Science Foundation Irelan

Representativeness in randomised clinical trials supporting acute coronary syndrome guidelines.

This project has received funding to cover the electronic case report form from the Balearic Society of Cardiology (Sociedad Balear Cardiología) through the ‘Bernat Nadal Ginard’ grant. Open access has been partly granted by the LIBERI PROGRAM 2023 of the Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands (IdISBa).AIMS Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are published to guide the management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We aimed to critically appraise the representativeness and standard of care of randomised clinical trials (RCTs) supporting CPGs for ACS. METHODS AND RESULTS American and European CPGs for ST- and non-ST-elevation ACS were screened to extract all references (n = 2128) and recommendations (n = 600). Among the 407 primary publications of RCTs (19.1%), there were 52.6% and 73.2% recruiting patients in North America and Europe, respectively, whereas other regions were largely underrepresented (e.g., 25.3% RCTs recruited in Asia). There was 68.6% RCTs enrolling patient with ACS, whereas the remaining 31.4% did not enroll any patient with ACS. There was underrepresentation of some important subgroups, including elderly, female (29.9%) and non-white patients (<20%). The incidence and type of reperfusion reported in these RCTs were not reflective of current clinical practice (the percentage of patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) among all RCTs was 42.7%; whereas for ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction patients, the number of participants who underwent fibrinolysis was 3.3-fold higher than those who underwent primary PCI). All-cause mortality in these RCTs was 11.9% in RCTs with a follow-up ≤1 year. CONCLUSION RCTs supporting CPGs for ACS are not fully representative of the diversity of the ACS population and their current standard of care. While some of these issues with representativeness may be explained by how evidence has been accrued over time, efforts should be made by trialists to ensure that the evidence supporting CPGs is representative of the wider ACS population.S

Anti-müllerian Hormone During Natural Cycle Presents Significant Intra and Intercycle Variations When Measured With Fully Automated Assay

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is an important ovarian reserve marker for baseline assessment and therapeutic strategy in fertility treatments, which is considered reliable when measured on any day of the cycle. Recent data have pointed toward significant fluctuations of AMH and questioned whether a single measurement is reliable for clinical decision-making. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the AMH does have significant variations during a natural cycle when a fully automated assay is used for the sample analysis. We performed a prospective study including healthy volunteers with regular cycles, from April to December 2017. Blood samples for AMH, FSH, LH, estradiol, and progesterone were obtained on day 2/3, day 10, day of LH surge, luteal phase and day 2/3 of subsequent menses. AMH analysis was performed with Elecsys® AMH automated assay. Trial was registered with clinical.trials.gov: NCT03106272. One hundred samples from 22 women with a mean age of 30.74 ± 0.11 years and a BMI of 23.23 ± 0.63 kg/m2 were analyzed. There was a substantial longitudinal fluctuation in AMH levels, indicated by the coefficient of variation (CV) intra-cycle of 0.2070 ± 0.143. A positive correlation between LH and AMH concentrations was found at the moment of LH rise (p &lt; 0.0001). Absolute intra-individual inter-cyclic variability was 0.75 ng/mL (range: 0.03–2.81 ng/mL) and inter-cycle CV was 0.28 (Confidence interval: 0.16–0.39; p &lt; 0.0001). According to our results, with the use of a fully automated assay in natural cycle, AMH shows significant intra- and inter-cycle variations, which are not caused by analytical variability. Future investigations, evaluating AMH dynamics and the best time for AMH assessment should be conducted