Interactions between bacterial surfaces and milk proteins, impact on food emulsions stability

Bacteria possess physicochemical surface properties such as hydrophobicity, Lewis acid/base and charge which are involved in physicochemical interactions between cells and interfaces. Moreover, food matrices are complex and heterogeneous media, with a microstructure depending on interactions between the components in media (van der Waals, electrostatic or structural forces, etc.). Despite the presence of bacteria in fermented products, few works have investigated how bacteria interact with other food components. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of the surface properties of lactic acid bacteria on the stability of model food emulsions. The bacteria were added to oil/water emulsions stabilized by milk proteins (sodium caseinate, whey proteins concentrate or whey proteins isolate) at different pH (from 3 to 7.5). The effect of bacteria on the emulsions stability depended on the surface properties of strains and also on the characteristics of emulsions. Flocculation and aggregation phenomena were observed in emulsion at pHs for which the bacterial surface charge was opposed to the one of the proteins. The effects of bacteria on the stability of emulsion depended also on the concentration of cations present in media such as Ca2+. These results show that the bacteria through their surface properties could interact with other compounds in matrices, consequently affecting the stability of emulsions. The knowledge and choice of bacteria depending on their surface properties could be one of the important factors to control the stability of matrices such as fermentation media or fermented products.Région Bourgogne, Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie

Making visible ‘hidden’ intentions and potential choices: international students in intercultural communication

The study reported in this paper examines the experiences of Chinese and Vietnamese international students in engaging in their institutional written discourse at an Australian university. The study highlights the significance of exploring the real accounts of the students as the ‘insiders’ and uncovering students’ individual potential choices and intentions as their ‘seemingly unrecognized’ values in producing their own texts in English as a second language. In particular, based on international students’ reflection on their intentions and potential choices in academic practices, the study signals how the taken-for-granted institutional conventions may contribute to silencing or marginalizing the possibilities for alternative approaches to knowledge and communication within the higher education institutional context

Somatic alteration burden involving non-cancer genes predicts prognosis in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer

The burden of somatic mutations and neoantigens has been associated with improved survival in cancer treated with immunotherapies, especially non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there is uncertainty about their effect on outcome in early-stage untreated cases. We posited that the burden of mutations in a specific set of genes may also contribute to the prognosis of early NSCLC patients. From a small cohort of 36 NSCLC cases, we were able to identify somatic mutations and copy number alterations in 865 genes that contributed to patient overall survival. Simply, the number of altered genes (NAG) among these 865 genes was associated with longer disease-free survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.153, p = 1.48 × 10−4). The gene expression signature distinguishing patients with high/low NAG was also prognostic in three independent datasets. Patients with a high NAG could be further stratified based on the presence of immunogenic mutations, revealing a further subgroup of stage I NSCLC with even better prognosis (85% with >5 years survival), and associated with cytotoxic T-cell expression. Importantly, 95% of the highly-altered genes lacked direct relation to cancer, but were implicated in pathways regulating cell proliferation, motility and immune response

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

University’s shared vision for research and teaching: an international comparative study

How do universities encourage academics to buy into a shared vision while often setting punitive targets in teaching and research? This article explores possible antecedents of a university’s shared vision and its relationships with academics’ research and teaching performance in the era of managerialism. This cross-country study of two large universities in the UK and Vietnam draws on data from multiple sources to uncover the key components of a university’s shared vision. A survey strategy was adopted. Data were collected from different sources, using a stratified random sampling technique from academics of different schools at those universities. A total of 431 survey responses from academics at these universities were included for analysis, employing structure equation modelling. It provides fresh insights into whether having a shared vision can benefit academics’ research and teaching performance. The findings of this study show that while achieving a high degree of shared vision may enhance research performance, it may do little to improve teaching performance. The study provides empirical evidence indicating that a shared vision emerges as strongly rooted within individual employees rather than managers, challenging the common belief that a shared vision emanates primarily from the top down. This article advances social exchange theory (SET) by showing the interdependence of workplace antecedents, personal attributes, interpersonal connections, and performance. It introduces a framework for the relationship between universities’ shared vision with its possible antecedents and with academics’ teaching performance and research performance. The article also discusses useful implications for higher education leaders, based on the findings of the study.</p

Untargeted identification of wood type-specific markers in particulate matter from wood combustion.

Residential wood combustion emissions are one of the major global sources of particulate and gaseous organic pollutants. However, the detailed chemical compositions of these emissions are poorly characterized due to their highly complex molecular compositions, non-ideal combustion conditions and sample preparation steps. In this study, the particulate organic emissions from a masonry heater using three types of wood logs, namely, beech, birch and spruce, were chemically characterized using thermal desorption in situ derivatization coupled to a GCxGC-ToF/MS system. Untargeted data analyses were performed using the comprehensive measurements. Univariate and multivariate chemometric tools, such as analysis of variance (ANOVA), principal component analysis (PCA) and ANOVA simultaneous component analysis (ASCA), were used to reduce the data to highly significant and wood type-specific features. This study reveals substances not previously considered in the literature as meaningful markers for differentiation among wood types

Decision mining in ProM

Process-aware Information Systems typically log events (e.g., in transaction logs or audit trails) related to the actual business process executions. Proper analysis of these execution logs can yield important knowledge that can help organizations to improve the quality of their services. Starting from a process model, which can be discovered by conventional process mining algorithms, we analyze how data attributes influence the choices made in the process based on past process executions. Decision mining, also referred to as decision point analysis, aims at the detection of data dependencies that affect the routing of a case. In this paper we describe how machine learning techniques can be leveraged for this purpose, and we present a Decision Miner implemented within the ProM framework

Impact of surface properties of lactic acid bacteria on the stability of emulsions

peer reviewedBacteria have physicochemical surface properties which depend on the chemical composition of the cell surface. These characters proceed from several type of physicochemical interactions and are involved in attachment processes of microorganisms to surfaces. Thus they are of interest in several areas, as biomedicine, formation of biofilms and adhesion to apolar surfaces. Moreover, food matrix are complex heterogeneous media, which structure settles on interaction forces between molecules (van der Waals, electrostatic or structural forces…). When bacteria are present in a matrix, it is probable that their surface interacts with the other constituents. So far, few studies have mentioned this subject. In order to understand the involvement of cells surface properties in a food matrix, the effect of surface properties of lactic bacteria on the stability of model emulsions were studied. The results showed that the choice of a bacterium according to its surface properties may have a strong impact on the stability and on the behavior of an emulsion