Role of (p)ppGpp in Viability and Biofilm Formation of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae S8.

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium and the cause of porcine pleuropneumonia. When the bacterium encounters nutritional starvation, the relA-dependent (p)ppGpp-mediated stringent response is activated. The modified nucleotides guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp) and guanosine 5'-triphosphate 3'-diphosphate (pppGpp) are known to be signaling molecules in other prokaryotes. Here, to investigate the role of (p)ppGpp in A. pleuropneumoniae, we created a mutant A. pleuropneumoniae strain, S8ΔrelA, which lacks the (p)ppGpp-synthesizing enzyme RelA, and investigated its phenotype in vitro. S8ΔrelA did not survive after stationary phase (starvation condition) and grew exclusively as non-extended cells. Compared to the wild-type (WT) strain, the S8ΔrelA mutant had an increased ability to form a biofilm. Transcriptional profiles of early stationary phase cultures revealed that a total of 405 bacterial genes were differentially expressed (including 380 up-regulated and 25 down-regulated genes) in S8ΔrelA as compared with the WT strain. Most of the up-regulated genes are involved in ribosomal structure and biogenesis, amino acid transport and metabolism, translation cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis. The data indicate that (p)ppGpp coordinates the growth, viability, morphology, biofilm formation and metabolic ability of A. pleuropneumoniae in starvation conditions. Furthermore, S8ΔrelA could not use certain sugars nor produce urease which has been associated with the virulence of A. pleuropneumoniae, suggesting that (p)ppGpp may directly or indirectly affect the pathogenesis of A. pleuropneumoniae during the infection process. In summary, (p)ppGpp signaling represents an essential component of the regulatory network governing stress adaptation and virulence in A. pleuropneumoniae

Choice of Measurement Sets in Qubit Tomography

Optimal generalized measurements for state estimation are well understood. However, practical quantum state tomography is typically performed using a fixed set of projective measurements and the question of how to choose these measurements has been largely unexplored in the literature. In this work we develop theoretical asymptotic bounds for the average fidelity of pure qubit tomography using measurement sets whose axes correspond to vertices of Platonic solids. We also present complete simulations of maximum likelihood tomography for mixed qubit states using the Platonic solid measurements. We show that overcomplete measurement sets can be used to improve the accuracy of tomographic reconstructions.Comment: 13 Pages, 6 figure

Memory texts and memory work: Performances of memory in and with visual media

The online version of this article can be found at: http://mss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/05/24/175069801037003

Interoperable Knowledge Modeling in Emergency Care: Application of the HL7 Emergency Care Domain Analysis Model

The Emergency Care System (ECS) in the United States provides intermittent unscheduled care to an increasing number of patients annually. Every ECS patient encounter generates data in a myriad of unlinked systems at regional emergency services and hospitals. Often, their prior health records are not available in a timely manner, fragmented, or not found. To address availability and interoperability data relevant to emergency care, the Health Level Seven (HL7) Emergency Care Workgroup seeks to ensure evolving health data interoperability standards incorporate ECS considerations. Foundational to that effort is a comprehensive model of Emergency Care information. This emergency care domain analysis model consists of interlinked layers of vocabulary, information models, health record functions and emergency department workflow. This poster will describe the HL7 Emergency Care Domain Analysis Model (EC-DAM), the design considerations and the impact of the EC-DAM on related information standards such as FHIR resources in prehospital care, trauma care, disease surveillance, and clinical research. The EC-DAM provides an integrated, standardized platform for creation of interoperable EC related knowledge tools. This poster presentation is particularly relevant to developers of health information standards and health information systems that involve the ECS.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/com_emerg_pres/1000/thumbnail.jp

The Effects of U.S.S.R. on Students\u27 Attitudes and Achievements

The program called Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading (USSR or SSR) is widely advocated, sometimes under other names (Moore, Jones, and Miller, 1980), as a program which should help foster positive attitudes toward reading as well as help improve reading achievement (Hunt, 1972; Mork, 1972; McCracken, 1971; Noland, 1976). USSR incorporates attributes mentioned by many writers as valuable for the development of favorable attitudes and increased achievement: a specific time set aside for reading at regular intervals; a large quantity and wide variety of reading materials available; provision of a role model in that the teacher and other adults in the school show their value of reading by participating along with the children; encouragement to read by these adults; a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere; lack of pressure to report on what has been read; and the opportunity to share information about books read, if desired. Many authorities believe that these ingredients cannot fail to produce more favorable attitudes toward reading as well as increased reading achievement