Training of a New Generation of Talents Capable of Working Across Borders and Sectors, with an Inclusive Approach of Food Innovation: the Case of FIPDes, the ERASMUS Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Food Innovation and Product Design.

Training of a new generation of talents capable of working across borders and sectors, with an inclusive approach of food innovation: the case of FIPDes, the ERASMUS mundus joint master’s degree in food innovation and product design. Food innovation applied to sustainable growth is driven by different needs and constraints. Sensory and nutritional aspects of food, as well as convenience are individual needs that cannot ignore the societal needs such as population growth and safety, as well as the urgent demand to ensure the availability of natural resources and reduce the impacts on environment. Innovation of products, processes, marketing strategies and organizations is the core approach to create incremental or breakthrough solutions for the food sector challenges. Innovation is always a transversal process and involves, in different manners and at different levels, the Research & Development, the Marketing, the Quality Management, and the Supplier and the Production departments. Recently, it has been shown that an integrative approach of these levels accelerates innovation at three different stages: the generation of ideas, development of concepts and prototypes, and the development of processes and products (Bertoluci, 2011). Companies of different size and organisation (from multinationals to start-ups) need skilled and versatile professionals to improve their innovation potential. However, worldwide there is still a lack of trained international food professionals and entrepreneurs that embrace and merge the multidisciplinary aspects of food innovation and product design as a whole. The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Food Innovation and Product Design (FIPDes) has been created to meet this emerging need and bring a European solution to the global challenges of sustainable design, production and consumption of food. The competences of four recognized European Higher Education Institutions have been merged together to offer a deeply innovative learning approach, integrating technical and horizontal skills. The presentation will show how FIPDes is pinpointing the global training needs of innovation towards sustainable food systems

Lipopolysaccharide-induced interferon response networks at birth are predictive of severe viral lower respiratory infections in the first year of life

Appropriate innate immune function is essential to limit pathogenesis and severity of severe lower respiratory infections (sLRI) during infancy, a leading cause of hospitalization and risk factor for subsequent asthma in this age group. Employing a systems biology approach to analysis of multi-omic profiles generated from a high-risk cohort (n = 50), we found that the intensity of activation of an LPS-induced interferon gene network at birth was predictive of sLRI risk in infancy (AUC = 0.724). Connectivity patterns within this network were stronger among susceptible individuals, and a systems biology approach identified IRF1 as a putative master regulator of this response. These findings were specific to the LPS-induced interferon response and were not observed following activation of viral nucleic acid sensing pathways. Comparison of responses at birth versus age 5 demonstrated that LPS-induced interferon responses but not responses triggered by viral nucleic acid sensing pathways may be subject to strong developmental regulation. These data suggest that the risk of sLRI in early life is in part already determined at birth, and additionally that the developmental status of LPS-induced interferon responses may be a key determinant of susceptibility. Our findings provide a rationale for the identification of at-risk infants for early intervention aimed at sLRI prevention and identifies targets which may be relevant for drug development

Genetic basis of sorghum leaf width and its potential as a surrogate for transpiration efficiency

Leaf width was correlated with plant-level transpiration efficiency and associated with 19 QTL in sorghum, suggesting it could be a surrogate for transpiration efficiency in large breeding program. Enhancing plant transpiration efficiency (TE) by reducing transpiration without compromising photosynthesis and yield is a desirable selection target in crop improvement programs. While narrow individual leaf width has been correlated with greater intrinsic water use efficiency in C4 species, the extent to which this translates to greater plant TE has not been investigated. The aims of this study were to evaluate the correlation of leaf width with TE at the whole-plant scale and investigate the genetic control of leaf width in sorghum. Two lysimetry experiments using 16 genotypes varying for stomatal conductance and three field trials using a large sorghum diversity panel (n = 701 lines) were conducted. Negative associations of leaf width with plant TE were found in the lysimetry experiments, suggesting narrow leaves may result in reduced plant transpiration without trade-offs in biomass accumulation. A wide range in width of the largest leaf was found in the sorghum diversity panel with consistent ranking among sorghum races, suggesting that environmental adaptation may have a role in modifying leaf width. Nineteen QTL were identified by genome-wide association studies on leaf width adjusted for flowering time. The QTL identified showed high levels of correspondence with those in maize and rice, suggesting similarities in the genetic control of leaf width across cereals. Three a priori candidate genes for leaf width, previously found to regulate dorsoventrality, were identified based on a 1-cM threshold. This study provides useful physiological and genetic insights for potential manipulation of leaf width to improve plant adaptation to diverse environments

Genetic basis of sorghum leaf width and its potential as a surrogate for transpiration efficiency

Leaf width was correlated with plant-level transpiration efficiency and associated with 19 QTL in sorghum, suggesting it could be a surrogate for transpiration efficiency in large breeding program. Enhancing plant transpiration efficiency (TE) by reducing transpiration without compromising photosynthesis and yield is a desirable selection target in crop improvement programs. While narrow individual leaf width has been correlated with greater intrinsic water use efficiency in C4 species, the extent to which this translates to greater plant TE has not been investigated. The aims of this study were to evaluate the correlation of leaf width with TE at the whole-plant scale and investigate the genetic control of leaf width in sorghum. Two lysimetry experiments using 16 genotypes varying for stomatal conductance and three field trials using a large sorghum diversity panel (n = 701 lines) were conducted. Negative associations of leaf width with plant TE were found in the lysimetry experiments, suggesting narrow leaves may result in reduced plant transpiration without trade-offs in biomass accumulation. A wide range in width of the largest leaf was found in the sorghum diversity panel with consistent ranking among sorghum races, suggesting that environmental adaptation may have a role in modifying leaf width. Nineteen QTL were identified by genome-wide association studies on leaf width adjusted for flowering time. The QTL identified showed high levels of correspondence with those in maize and rice, suggesting similarities in the genetic control of leaf width across cereals. Three a priori candidate genes for leaf width, previously found to regulate dorsoventrality, were identified based on a 1-cM threshold. This study provides useful physiological and genetic insights for potential manipulation of leaf width to improve plant adaptation to diverse environments

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

A model of home based care for people with disabilities: Better practice in rural Thailand.

Background and objective: People with disabilities living in rural areas often require considerable support to meet their complex needs. This study investigated a best practice model in home-based care for people with disabilities in rural Thailand. <br /><br /> Design and Setting: A case study method was adopted to investigate a best practice model of home-based care for people with disabilities in Nakhonthai District, Phitsanulok Province, Thailand. Data were collected from 30 participants through in-depth interviews, focus groups, direct observation and document analysis. Content and thematic analyses were conducted for qualitative data. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test was used for the outcome measurement of activities of daily living (ADL) scores. <br /><br /> Results: This model of home-based care for people with disabilities, as an integrated network model, brings together the community, health professionals and other organisations. The role of trained community health volunteers was mainly to deliver home-based personal care for people with disabilities, while health professionals focused mainly on controlling the quality of care, managing the knowledge and skills of volunteers, and co-ordinating the network. The difference between ADL scores before and after the implementation of the model (n=20) was statistically significant (p<0.01). Conclusion: This best practice model of home-based care for people with disabilities in rural Thailand shifts responsibility in the main service decisions from professionals to the community and other stakeholders and engages and empowered all stakeholders in the provision, co-ordination and management of care

Stay-green enhances lodging resistance under terminal water deficity in sorghum

Lodging associated with terminal drought has been one of the major constraints facing sorghum growers and breeders since the advent of hybrids in the US and Australia more than 50 years ago. Water stress during grain filling causes the plant to use resources from leaves and stems to fill grain. If the stress is severe enough, this process causes stem death and lodging. In addition, if circumstances are favourable, the tissue death enables stalk rotting pathogens to colonise and degrade stem tissue, further increasing the severity of lodging. In this paper we report on a large number of experiments undertaken in Australia and India to determine the impact of the stay-green trait on lodging resistance and grain yield under varying levels of water supply. Stay-green, as measured by the relative rate of leaf death during grain filling, was positively correlated with lodging at maturity in the Australian and Indian studies using experimental populations. In addition, stay-green was highly correlated with reduced lodging in environments where post-flowering drought stress occurred in trials of sorghum hybrids conducted by the GRDC funded sorghum core breeding program over many years. In another GRDC funded project, genetic lines were constructed where specific stay-green genes were introduced into a senescent line. When these lines were tested under post-flowering drought, the stay-green characteristic was shown to substantially reduce lodging. Evidence from a large body of research trials indicates the overwhelming value of stay-green in increasing grain yield, increasing grain size, and reducing lodging when drought occurs during grain-filling, which is commonly the case in Australia. Sorghum lines produced by the GRDC sorghum core breeding program with the stay-green trait are widely used in Australian commercial hybrids and in commercial breeding programs

Social stress and depression during pregnancy and in the postnatal period in British Pakistani mothers:A cohort study

AbstractBackgroundDepressive disorders are common and disabling among perinatal women. The rates are high in ethnic minority groups. The causes are not known in British Pakistani women. The aim of this study was to estimate the rates, correlates and maintaining factors of perinatal depression in a Pakistani sample in UK. The design used was a cross-sectional two phase population based survey with a prospective cohort study.MethodsAll women in 3rd trimester attending antenatal clinic were screened with the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS). Women scoring 12 or more on EPDS and a random sample of low scorers were interviewed using the Schedules for Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) and the Life Events and Difficulties schedule (LEDS). Social support was assessed with the Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). They were reassessed 6months after the delivery using the same measures.ResultsThe weighted prevalence of depression was 16.8%. Depressed mothers had more marked non health difficulties (housing, financial and marital). They had less social support and were socially isolated. Marked social isolation and marked non-health related difficulties were independent predictors of depression. Analyses of all the possible risk factors, comparing 26 persistent depressed with 27 depression resolved group showed significant differences in the MSPSS subscales between the two groups.LimitationsThe study lacked inter-rater reliability testing between the individuals carrying out diagnostic interviews. The study sample did not accurately represent the general population and information about the origins of depression in this group of mothers was limited.ConclusionDepression in British Pakistani mothers is associated with social isolation, poor social support and severe and persistent social difficulties. The findings will have implications in planning suitable services for this group