Are CDI Systems Multicolored, Facultative, Helping Greenbeards?

Competitive and cooperative interactions between organisms, including bacteria, can significantly impact the composition of a community and the fitness of its members, as well as the fitness of their hosts when communities are living on or within other organisms. Understanding the underlying mechanisms is critical to the development of strategies to control microbiological communities that impact animal and plant health and also for understanding the evolution of social behaviors, which has been challenging for evolutionary biologists. Contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) is a phenomenon defined by the delivery of a protein toxin to the cytoplasm of neighboring bacteria upon cell–cell contact, resulting in growth inhibition or death unless a specific immunity protein is present. CDI was first described based on observations of interbacterial killing and has been assumed to function primarily as a means of eliminating competitor cells. However, recent molecular evidence indicates that multiple levels of specificity restrict CDI toxin delivery and activity to the same bacterial strain, and that CDI system proteins can mediate cooperative behaviors among ‘self’ cells, a phenomenon called contact-dependent signaling (CDS). Here we review these recent findings and discuss potential biological and evolutionary implications of CDI system-mediated interbacterial competition and cooperation

A community-based cooking programme "Eat Better Feel Better" can improve child and family eating behaviours in low socioeconomic groups

Background: The immediate and sustained impacts of the Eat Better Feel Better cooking programme (EBFBCP) on food choices and eating behaviours in families and children were evaluated. Methods: The EBFBCP (6 weeks, 2 hours/week) was delivered by community-based organisations in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Scotland. Before, after and at follow-up, parents/caregivers completed short pictorial questionnaires to report family/child eating behaviours and food literacy. Results: In total, 83 EBFBCPs were delivered and 516 participants enrolled, of which 432 were parents and caregivers. Questionnaire completion rates were 57% (n=250) for before and after and 13% (n=58) for follow-up. Most participants (80%) were female, 25–44 years old (51%) and considered socioeconomically deprived (80%). The immediate effects of the EBFBCP on eating behaviours and food literacy were families ate less takeaway/fast foods (10% reduction, p=0.019) and ready meals (15% reduction, p=0.003) and cooked more from scratch (20% increase, p<0.001). Children’s consumption of discretionary food/drinks was significantly reduced after the EBFBCP for sugary drinks (10% reduction, p=0.012), savoury snacks (18%, p=0.012), biscuits (17%, p=0.007), sweets/chocolates (23%, p=0.002), fried/roasted potatoes (17%, p<0.001) and savoury pastries (11%, p<0.001). The number of fruit (15%, p=0.008) and vegetable portions (10%, p<0.001) increased, while the number of biscuit portions decreased (13%, p=0.005). Parental food label reading increased (calories, 22%; fat, 23%; sugar, 22%; ingredients, 19%; and portion size, 19%). Most changes were sustained at a median of 10 months’ follow-up. Conclusion: The EBFBCP improved children’s and families’ food choices and behaviours. The EBFBCP can be recommended to support families to make better food choices

Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers (CI4CC): Building a Community Focused on Sharing Ideas and Best Practices to Improve Cancer Care and Patient Outcomes.

Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers (CI4CC) is a grassroots, nonprofit 501c3 organization intended to provide a focused national forum for engagement of senior cancer informatics leaders, primarily aimed at academic cancer centers anywhere in the world but with a special emphasis on the 70 National Cancer Institute-funded cancer centers. Although each of the participating cancer centers is structured differently, and leaders' titles vary, we know firsthand there are similarities in both the issues we face and the solutions we achieve. As a consortium, we have initiated a dedicated listserv, an open-initiatives program, and targeted biannual face-to-face meetings. These meetings are a place to review our priorities and initiatives, providing a forum for discussion of the strategic and pragmatic issues we, as informatics leaders, individually face at our respective institutions and cancer centers. Here we provide a brief history of the CI4CC organization and meeting highlights from the latest CI4CC meeting that took place in Napa, California from October 14-16, 2019. The focus of this meeting was "intersections between informatics, data science, and population science." We conclude with a discussion on "hot topics" on the horizon for cancer informatics

A Pharmacology-Based Enrichment Program for Undergraduates Promotes Interest in Science

There is a strong need to increase the number of undergraduate students who pursue careers in science to provide the “fuel” that will power a science and technology–driven U.S. economy. Prior research suggests that both evidence-based teaching methods and early undergraduate research experiences may help to increase retention rates in the sciences. In this study, we examined the effect of a program that included 1) a Summer enrichment 2-wk minicourse and 2) an authentic Fall research course, both of which were designed specifically to support students\u27 science motivation. Undergraduates who participated in the pharmacology-based enrichment program significantly improved their knowledge of basic biology and chemistry concepts; reported high levels of science motivation; and were likely to major in a biological, chemical, or biomedical field. Additionally, program participants who decided to major in biology or chemistry were significantly more likely to choose a pharmacology concentration than those majoring in biology or chemistry who did not participate in the enrichment program. Thus, by supporting students\u27 science motivation, we can increase the number of students who are interested in science and science careers

Endemic Angiostrongyliasis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Submitted by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2016-10-06T12:58:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 fernando_monteiro_etal_IOC_2011.pdf: 214467 bytes, checksum: 7938fea29a355143991cd4f518b2d970 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2016-10-06T13:12:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 fernando_monteiro_etal_IOC_2011.pdf: 214467 bytes, checksum: 7938fea29a355143991cd4f518b2d970 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-06T13:12:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 fernando_monteiro_etal_IOC_2011.pdf: 214467 bytes, checksum: 7938fea29a355143991cd4f518b2d970 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil / Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

On the weak lensing masses of a new sample of galaxy groups

Galaxy group masses are important to relate these systems with the dark matter halo hosts. However, deriving accurate mass estimates is particularly challenging for low-mass galaxy groups. Moreover, calibration of observational mass-proxies using weak-lensing estimates have been mainly focused on massive clusters. We present here a study of halo masses for a sample of galaxy groups identified according to a spectroscopic catalogue, spanning a wide mass range. The main motivation of our analysis is to assess mass estimates provided by the galaxy group catalogue derived through an abundance matching luminosity technique. We derive total halo mass estimates according to a stacking weak-lensing analysis. Our study allows to test the accuracy of mass estimates based on this technique as a proxy for the halo masses of large group samples. Lensing profiles are computed combining the groups in different bins of abundance matching mass, richness, and redshift. Fitted lensing masses correlate with the masses obtained from abundance matching. However, when considering groups in the low-and intermediate-mass ranges, masses computed according to the characteristic group luminosity tend to predict higher values than the determined by the weak-lensing analysis. The agreement improves for the low-mass range if the groups selected have a central early-Type galaxy. Presented results validate the use of mass estimates based on abundance matching techniques, which provide good proxies to the halo host mass in a wide mass range.Fil: Gonzalez, Elizabeth Johana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; Argentina. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Rodriguez, Facundo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Merchan, Manuel Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Garcia Lambas, Diego Rodolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Makler, Martín. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología. Centro Internacional de Estudios Avanzados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias Físicas. - Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Ciencias Físicas; Argentina. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Chalela, Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Pereira, Maria E. S.. University of Michigan. Department of Physics; Estados UnidosFil: Moraes, Bruno. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Shan, HuanYuan. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. Shanghai Astronomical Observatory; Chin

Repairing the Leaky Pipeline: A Motivationally Supportive Intervention to Enhance Persistence in Undergraduate Science Pathways

The current study reports on the efficacy of a multi-faceted motivationally designed undergraduate enrichment summer program for supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) persistence. Structural equation modeling was used to compare summer program participants (n = 186), who participated in the program between their first and second years in college, to a propensity score matched comparison sample (n = 401). Participation in the summer program positively predicted science motivation (self-efficacy, task value), assessed eight months after the end of the program (second year in college). The summer enrichment program was also beneficial for science persistence variables, as evidenced by significant direct and indirect effects of the program on science course completion during students’ third year of college and students’ intentions to pursue a science research career assessed during the third year of college. In general, the program was equally beneficial for all participants, but ancillary analyses indicated added benefits with respect to task value for students with relatively lower prior science achievement during the first year of college and with respect to subsequent science course taking for males. Implications for developing effective interventions to reduce the flow of individuals out of STEM fields and for translating motivational theory into practice are discussed

Weak-lensing analysis of galaxy pairs using CS82 data

Here we analyze a sample of close galaxy pairs (relative projected separation < 25 h -1 kpc and relative radial velocities < 350 km s -1 ) using a weak-lensing analysis based on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey (CS82). We determine halo masses for the total sample of pairs as well as for interacting, red, and higher-luminosity pair subsamples with ∼3σ confidence. The derived lensing signal for the total sample can be fitted either by a Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS) with σ V = 223 ± 24 km s -1 or a Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile with R 200 = 0.30 ± 0.03 h -1 Mpc. The pair total masses and total r band luminosities imply an average mass-to-light ratio of ∼200 h M ⊙ /L ⊙ . On the other hand, red pairs which include a larger fraction of elliptical galaxies, show a larger mass-to-light ratio of ∼345 h M ⊙ /L ⊙ . Derived lensing masses were compared to a proxy of the dynamical mass, obtaining a good correlation. However, there is a large discrepancy between lensing masses and the dynamical mass estimates, which could be accounted for by astrophysical processes such as dynamical friction, by the inclusion of unbound pairs, and by significant deviations of the density distribution from SIS and NFW profiles in the inner regions. We also compared lensing masses with group mass estimates, finding very good agreement with the sample of groups with two members. Red and blue pairs show large differences between group and lensing masses, which is likely due to the single mass-to-light ratio adopted to compute the group masses.Fil: Gonzalez, Elizabeth Johana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Facundo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Garcia Lambas, Diego Rodolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Makler, Martín. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Mesa, Valeria Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Alonso, Sol. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Geofísica y Astronomía; ArgentinaFil: Duplancic Videla, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Geofísica y Astronomía; ArgentinaFil: Pereira, Maria E. S.. Brandeis University; Estados UnidosFil: Shan, HuanYuan. Shanghai Astronomical Observatory; República de Chin