Probiotics: facts and myths

ABSTRACTIn recent years there has been a significant upsurge in research on the characterisation and verification of the potential health benefits associated with the use of probiotics. In addition, the market for probiotics continues to expand exponentially as consumers (mostly healthy individuals) rely on health claims made by manufacturers to make their choices. This review appraises the available evidence for and against the health claims associated with probiotics. The use of probiotics in promoting gastrointestinal health and immunity, and their use in the prevention of urogenital infections, allergies and cancer are reviewed. Furthermore, issues surrounding the use of probiotics in healthy individuals, the safety of probiotics and regulatory concerns are addressed. There is scientific evidence that specific strains of probiotic microorganisms confer health benefits on the host and are safe for human use. However, this evidence cannot be extrapolated to other strains, as these effects are strain-specific. Probiotics have potential health benefits for conditions such as gastrointestinal infections, genitourinary infections, allergies and certain bowel disorders, all of which afflict a considerable proportion of the global population. However, considerable work is still needed to confirm these potential health benefits

Aggressiveness of fusarium section liseola isolates causing maize ear rot in Argentina

Developing resistance to species of Fusarium in maize (Zea mays L.) is important to prevent field mycotoxin contamination. Isolates representative of natural conditions need to be identified to maximize selection responses. Sixty isolates belonging to Fusarium section Liseola collected from a major maize growing region in Argentina were tested for sexual compatibility with eight standard tester strains (A-H) of the Gibberella fujikuroi complex. A twenty-nine isolate sub-sample (MAT-A: 26, MAT-E: 2 and MAT-D: 1) was tested for in vitro production of fumonisins and for aggressiveness to two maize hybrids after silk inoculation. Mating population A (F. verticillioides) was the most prevalent species (90%) coexisting with some isolates belonging to MAT-D (F.proliferatum) and MAT-E(F. subglutinans). Fumonisin production varied from 0.4 to 2884 mg g-1 for MAT-A and from 0.3 to 0.6 mg g-1 for MAT-E. The only isolate from MATD produced undetectable levels. Most isolates showed mild aggressiveness but two uncommon highly aggressive strains (MAT-A and D) were also identified. No associations between fumonisin production and disease severity were observed. Differences in disease severity between moderately resistant and susceptible hybrids varied across years and isolates suggesting that responses to selection might depend on the isolate used to produce the inoculum. The use of isolate mixtures might reduce genotype-by-isolate interaction although it would hinder identification of resistance to specific strains.EEA PergaminoFil: Iglesias, Juliana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino. Departamento de Maíz; ArgentinaFil: Presello, Daniel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino. Departamento de Maíz; ArgentinaFil: Botta, Grisela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino; ArgentinaFil: Lori, G.A. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología (CIDEFI-CIC); ArgentinaFil: Fauguel, Carolina Maria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino; Argentin

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

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Search for black holes and other new phenomena in high-multiplicity final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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