Promises and Prospects of Microbiome Studies

Since Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, first microscopic observations of the unseen microbiota and the more recent realization that little of the microbes in the biosphere are known, humans have developed a deep curiosity to fully understand the inner workings of the microbial realm. Our ability to characterize the complexity of microbial communities in their natural habitats has dramatically improved over the past decade thanks to advances in high-throughput methodologies. By eliminating the need to isolate and culture individual species, metagenomics approaches have removed many of the obstacles that hindered research in the ecology of mixed microbial consortia, providing valuable information about the diversity, composition, function, and metabolic capability of the community. Microbes are the unseen majority with the capability to colonize every environment, including our bodies. The establishment and composition of a stable human microbiome is determined by the host genetics, immunocompetence, and life-style choices. Our life-style choices determine our exposure to many external and internal environmental factors that permanently or temporarily can influence our microbiome composition. Figure 1 illustrates some of the life-style-related factors that might influence the microbiota of the skin, mouth, and gut. It is not limited to what we carry, touch, breath, and eat. Other dispersal vectors include secretion, excretions, aerosols, air flow, animals, moving surfaces, water, beverages, food, contact, wind, tools, toiletry, and others. These influence the microbiome membership, who are present, and they have the ability to participate in the microbiome dynamic within an environment. The establishment of a microbial community is dependent on many environmental factors, including pH, temperature, altitude, weather, soil type, nutrient availability, relative humidity, air quality, pollutants, microbial competitors, and others. In other words, we are superorganisms interconnected with other living forms on this Earth

Family Support and Parental Monitoring as Protective Factors in Preventing Depression and Alcohol Use among Mexican American Adolescents

Session 4: Risk and Protective Factors in Adolescent and Young Adults. Presenter: Maria Pagan-Rivera, New York University Silver School of Social Work (2012) - "Family Support and Parental Monitoring as Protective Factors in Preventing Depression and Alcohol Use among Mexican American Adolescents".The Ohio State University College of Social Wor

The Application of Creative Leadership Skills in the Education and Mentoring of Social Entrepreneurs: A Graduate Level Course

The purpose of this project is to fully comprehend the state of social entrepreneurship education through research, and consequently, to design a course on how to apply creative leadership skills to educate and mentor social entrepreneurs and to enhance their problem solving skills. The outcome of the project is a course proposal to build inter-disciplinary knowledge and skills

Towards Evidence Based M-Health Application Design in Cancer Patient Healthy Lifestyle Interventions

Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases in Europe and the world. Significant correlations between dietary habits and cancer incidence and mortality have been confirmed by the literature. Physical activity habits are also directly implicated in the incidence of cancer. Lifestyle behaviour change may be benefited by using mobile technology to deliver health behaviour interventions. M-Health offers a promising cost-efficient approach to deliver en-masse interventions. Smartphone apps with constructs such as gamification and personalized have shown potential for helping individuals lose weight and maintain healthy lifestyle habits. However, evidence-based content and theory-based strategies have not been incorporated by those apps systematically yet. The aim of the current work is to put the foundations for a methodologically rigorous exploration of wellness/health intervention literature/app landscape towards detailed design specifications for connected health m-apps. In this context, both the overall work plan is described as well as the details for the significant steps of application space and literature space review. Both strategies for research and initial outcomes of it are presented. The expected evidence based design process for patient centered health and wellness interventions is going to be the primary input in the implementation process of upcoming patient centered health/wellness m-health interventions.ENJECT COST-STSM-ECOST-STSM-TD1405-220216-07045

Tenderness of Pork from Selected Hogs as Affected by the Application of a Meat Tenderizer

(From the Summary) The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an unseasoned tenderizer on the flavor, juiciness, and tenderness of boneless pork chops from the longissimus dorsi muscle. The chops were obtained from the loins of 24 Duroc hogs which had been finished under four regimes: full-feed on concrete; limited-feed on concrete; full-feed on pasture; and limited-feed on pasture. The tenderizer contained papain in powdered form. The secondary purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible effect of management and feeding regime of the hogs on tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of pork chops

Scalar field self-force effects on orbits about a Schwarzschild black hole

For a particle of mass mu and scalar charge q, we compute the effects of the scalar field self-force upon circular orbits, upon slightly eccentric orbits and upon the innermost stable circular orbit of a Schwarzschild black hole of mass M. For circular orbits the self force is outward and causes the angular frequency at a given radius to decrease. For slightly eccentric orbits the self force decreases the rate of the precession of the orbit. The effect of the self force moves the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit inward by 0.122701 q^2/mu, and it increases the angular frequency of the ISCO by the fraction 0.0291657 q^2/mu M.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Alcance material de la obligación de informar las irregularidades halladas por parte del revisor fiscal como determinante de la responsabilidad civil del profesional.

31 Páginas.No hay una discusión pacifica sobre la responsabilidad de revisor fiscal por actos cometidos por los administradores de la sociedad facultando al juez a que de manera discrecional aplique las normas vigentes sin tener en cuenta precedentes jurisprudenciales o sin que siga una línea argumentativa uniforme emanada de las Altas Cortes del país. Lo anterior, teniendo como precedente que tanto la jurisprudencia como la doctrina no ha realizado un trabajo a conciencia y a profundidad sobre las consecuencias y el vinculo jurídico que hay entre el actuar negligente del administrador y las labores propias del revisor fiscal al momento de realizarlas

A gaze to rural education according to scientific discourses during the last decade

He largest proportion of illiteracy and lack of access to education in the world is concentrated in rural areas; therefore it is important to ensure there is access to quality education in these spots. This challenge is assumed by different branches of social research and it is reflected within the publication of articles in scientific journals. In the present document the scientific discourse surrounding the theme of rural education during the last decade was analyzed. To do this, the paper focuses on three aspects: the countries that set the agenda, the geographical areas that represent most of the attention and the prevalent themes within continents. It was observed that USA was the most productive country in terms of scientific writings with 30%; that Asia is really interested in health issues associated to rural education; that in Europe gender issues are on the table and that the African and Asian continents, as well as Latin America, are interested only on their own issues, as 100% of the times they only wrote about themselves

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Applied to Educational Needs in Latin America

This paper explores the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how it has been changing for over the last 50 years. It also considers the importance of CSR and the implementation of social actions in the community, most of all, in specific areas that need more attention such as poverty and education, the last one being the focus of this article. The research method, supported by the author’s own concept, allows us to summarize and simplify the information collected about the Latin American companies that belong to the Fortune 500s list. We can identify which of them have social responsibility focused on education and what they do to achieve it. Finally, the article mentions two particular examples of Latin American companies with social responsibility in the education field