Prevalence of overweight and obesity in adults from North Africa.

The share of North African immigrants in Europe is growing continuously. In this review, we aimed to systematically analyse and describe the literature on weight status and physical activity in North African adults, both in their home country and after immigration to Europe. Existing data on North African residents and on North African immigrants in Europe were analysed by a systematic search on PUBMED. There is a wide variation among countries in the prevalence of overweight/obesity, with immigrants showing higher values. The overall results revealed a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in females than in males in North African residents. Females also show higher levels of obesity among immigrants. In particular, literature reports indicate that 1.3-47.8% of North African residents and 3.6-49.4% of North African immigrants in adult age are overweight or obese. Physical inactivity is higher than 20% in males and 40% in females in North African residents. The highest frequency of physically inactive or lightly active people among immigrants was observed in first-generation Sudanese and Moroccans in Amsterdam (males: 57.1%; females: 74.2%), with increasing rates in second-generation females. The results underline a higher health risk in North African immigrants than in residents. Specific public health strategies should be adopted in various populations of North African origin to control the obesity epidemic

Inhibition of Fungi and Gram-Negative Bacteria by Bacteriocin BacTN635 Produced by Lactobacillus plantarum sp. TN635

The aim of this study was to evaluate 54 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from meat, fermented vegetables and dairy products for their capacity to produce antimicrobial activities against several bacteria and fungi. The strain designed TN635 has been selected for advanced studies. The supernatant culture of this strain inhibits the growth of all tested pathogenic including the four Gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella enterica ATCC43972, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 49189, Hafnia sp. and Serratia sp.) and the pathogenic fungus Candida tropicalis R2 CIP203. Based on the nucleotide sequence of the 16S rRNA gene of the strain TN635 (1,540 pb accession no FN252881) and the phylogenetic analysis, we propose the assignment of our new isolate bacterium as Lactobacillus plantarum sp. TN635 strain. Its antimicrobial compound was determined as a proteinaceous substance, stable to heat and to treatment with surfactants and organic solvents. Highest antimicrobial activity was found between pH 3 and 11 with an optimum at pH = 7. The BacTN635 was purified to homogeneity by a four-step protocol involving ammonium sulfate precipitation, centrifugal microconcentrators with a 10-kDa membrane cutoff, gel filtration Sephadex G-25, and C18 reverse-phase HPLC. SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified BacTN635, revealed a single band with an estimated molecular mass of approximately 4 kDa. The maximum bacteriocin production (5,000 AU/ml) was recorded after a 16-h incubation in Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) medium at 30 °C. The mode of action of the partial purified BacTN635 was identified as bactericidal against Listeria ivanovii BUG 496 and as fungistatic against C. tropicalis R2 CIP203

The Making of the NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18)

The NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18) is a probabilistic hazard model for tsunamis generated by earthquakes. It covers the coastlines of the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and connected seas (NEAM). NEAMTHM18 was designed as a three-phase project. The first two phases were dedicated to the model development and hazard calculations, following a formalized decision-making process based on a multiple-expert protocol. The third phase was dedicated to documentation and dissemination. The hazard assessment workflow was structured in Steps and Levels. There are four Steps: Step-1) probabilistic earthquake model; Step-2) tsunami generation and modeling in deep water; Step-3) shoaling and inundation; Step-4) hazard aggregation and uncertainty quantification. Each Step includes a different number of Levels. Level-0 always describes the input data; the other Levels describe the intermediate results needed to proceed from one Step to another. Alternative datasets and models were considered in the implementation. The epistemic hazard uncertainty was quantified through an ensemble modeling technique accounting for alternative models’ weights and yielding a distribution of hazard curves represented by the mean and various percentiles. Hazard curves were calculated at 2,343 Points of Interest (POI) distributed at an average spacing of ∼20 km. Precalculated probability maps for five maximum inundation heights (MIH) and hazard intensity maps for five average return periods (ARP) were produced from hazard curves. In the entire NEAM Region, MIHs of several meters are rare but not impossible. Considering a 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years (ARP≈2,475 years), the POIs with MIH >5 m are fewer than 1% and are all in the Mediterranean on Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece coasts. In the North-East Atlantic, POIs with MIH >3 m are on the coasts of Mauritania and Gulf of Cadiz. Overall, 30% of the POIs have MIH >1 m. NEAMTHM18 results and documentation are available through the TSUMAPS-NEAM project website (http://www.tsumaps-neam.eu/), featuring an interactive web mapper. Although the NEAMTHM18 cannot substitute in-depth analyses at local scales, it represents the first action to start local and more detailed hazard and risk assessments and contributes to designing evacuation maps for tsunami early warning.publishedVersio

Simulation of volume changes of cement paste at early age

The evolution of early age mechanical properties and volume change of cement paste is performed through Finite Element analysis on a 3D computer-generated cement paste. The time evolution of the hydrating microstructure is generated by μic(mike), a vectorial hydration model which takes into account the Particle Size Distribution (PSD) of anhydrous cement particles, the w/c ratio, the filler content and different hydration kinetics mechanisms such as nucleation, growth and diffusion. The microstructure geometry is then discretized into a finite element mesh. At each hydration step, the capillary depression is computed according to Laplace-Kelvin equation and applied on the pore space generated by the hydration model. Then, the autogenous shrinkage corresponds to the overall load-free deformation of the computational volume. Two constitutive models are used. The first one is a purely elastic model where macroscopic stress depends on the total porosity only. The second one is a poroelastic model which takes into account the fluid-solid interaction and the de-saturation effect. In parallel to the modeling work, a systematic experimental study has been performed on series of white cement pastes prepared different finenesses and various water-cement ratios. Many characterization techniques were used in the experimental study: chemical shrinkage, evolution of relative humidity, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), x-ray diffraction (XRD), linear and volumetric autogenous shrinkage and ultrasonic wave propagation measurements. The numerical results are compared with experiment data and it is shown that the poroelastic model provides the best agreement to the experimental results. The remaining gap between the modeling and the experiment is discussed and future developments are outlined

Optimization and biochemical characterization of a bacteriocin from a newly isolated Bacillus subtilis strain 14B for biocontrol of Agrobacterium spp. strains

International audienceAims: The identification of a new compound active against Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Methods and Results: The culture conditions of a newly isolated Bacillus subtilis strain, designed 14B, were optimized, as a first step, to produce its bacteriocin (termed Bac 14B) for the biocontrol of Agrobacterium spp., the causal agents of the crown gall disease. Bac 14B was then partially purified and biochemically characterized. Bacillus subtilis 14B was observed to produce an antibacterial compound having a protinaceous nature. As estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), the semi-purified bacteriocin substance was found to be a monomeric protein with a molecular weight of 21 kDa. While the latter's antimicrobial activity was completely stable during exposure to a temperature range of up to 100C for 2 h, its initial activity was totally lost at 121C for 20 min. The maximum bacteriocin production (4096 AU ml)1) was recorded after 96 h-incubation in an optimized Luria Bertani medium supplemented with 10 g l)1 glucose, 15 g l)1 K2HPO4 and 5 g l)1 MgSO4 7H2O at 30C in a shaking flask culture. Interestingly, the B. subtilis 14B culture supernatant that contained the bacteriocin under study was proved efficient in reducing both the percentage of galled plants and the number of galls in tomato. Conclusion: The findings revealed that B. subtilis 14B and its bacteriocin are efficient in reducing the percentage of infections in plants caused by Ag. tumefaciens. Significance and Impact of the Study: The results could be useful for the nurserymen who are particularly interested in the biocontrol of the crown gall disease

Light acclimation of leaf gas exchange in two Tunisian cork oak populations from contrasting environmental conditions

Due to diverse environmental conditions, Mediterranean plant populations are exposed to a range of selective pressures that may lead to phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation. We examined the effect of light acclimation on photosynthetic capacity in two Quercus suber (L.) populations that are native to different ecological conditions. Low-light adapted seedlings from both populations were exposed to three light treatments: full sunlight (HL), medium light (ML, 43% sunlight) and low light (LL, 15% sunlight) for one month. Photosynthetic performance was monitored by measuring leaf gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. The light environment influences light-saturated carbon assimilation (Amax) in the leaves of the population inhabiting the hot and dry region (from Gaafour). In contrast, there was no significant difference in Amax between leaves grown in high light and low light from Feija (the population native to a cold and humid climate), which suggests an inability of the Feija population to adjust its photosynthesis to respond to higher irradiance. The inability of the Feija population to adjust its photosynthesis did not result from a light acclimation failure in terms of chlorophyll content and ratio compared with the Gaafour population. Instead, it seems to be the consequence of lower stomatal conductance in the Feija population at HL compared to Gaafour