Complete genome sequence of streptococcus pneumoniae virulent phage MS1

The lytic Streptococcus pneumoniae phage MS1 was isolated from a throat swab of a patient with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection. The genome of this siphophage has 56,075 bp, 42.3% GC content, and 77 open reading frames, including queuosine biosynthesis genes. Phage MS1 is related to pneumococcal phage Dp-1

Impact of Deficit Irrigation (DI) and Root-Zone Drying Irrigation Technique (PRD) under Different Nitrogen Rates on Radiation Use Efficiency for Potato (Solanum Tuberosum L.) in Semi-arid Conditions (II)

The study was carried out at the Technical Center of Potato and Artichoke CTPTA located in the lower valley of Medjerda river of Tunisia during the season of 2017. The purpose was to estimate the impact of deficit irrigation (DI) and the root-zone drying irrigation technique (PRD) under different nitrogen rates on photo synthetically active radiation absorbed and radiation use efficiency for Potato (Solanum Tuberosum L. VS. Spunta). Three water treatments (T1= 100% ETC, T2 = DI = 75% ETC and T3 = PRD50) and three nitrogen rates (F1 = N150: 150 kg N ha-1, F2 = N75: 75kg N ha-1, F3 = N0: 0kg N ha-1) were applied since the tuber initiation (55 days after planting) to maturity (100 days after planting). The deficit irrigation T2 has no effect on PARabs. Besides, the PRD50 has led to a reduction in PARabs. This decrease compare to T1 was equal to (8.9; 9.9 and 7.9%) respectively for the three treatments (F1; F2 and F3). The nitrogen deficit affects negatively the PARabs. An improvement of 13.2%, 11.2% and 12.2% of the F1 compared to the F3, respectively for the three water treatments (T1, T2 and T3). The T2 has no effect on RUE TDM. Conversely, the PRD50 has led to a reduction in RUE TDM. This decline referee against T1 was equal to (12.7; 17.4 and 21.5%) respectively for the three treatments (F1; F2 and F3). For RUEGY statistical analysis showed significant (P < 0.05) difference between the three irrigation treatments (T0, T1 and T2) for the three nitrogen treatments (F1; F2 and F3). The T2 and the PRD50 has led to a reduction in RUE GY. This decrease judge against T1 respectively for the two treatments (F2 and F3) was equal to (14.9 and 21.5%) and (19.6 and 31.2%)

Effect of Deficit Irrigation and Root-Zone Drying Irrigation Technique under Different Nitrogen Rates on Water Use Efficiency for Potato (Solanum Tuberosum L.) in Semi-arid Conditions (I)

An investigation was carried out at the Technical Center of Potato and Artichoke CTPTA in the region of Saida, located in the lower valley of Medjerda river during the season of 2017. The objective was to evaluate the effects of deficit irrigation (DI) and the root-zone drying irrigation technique (PRD) under different nitrogen rates on total dry matter production (TDM), water consumption (WC) and water use efficiency of potato (Solanum Tuberosum L. VS. Spunta). Three water treatments (T1 = FI = 100% ETC, T2 = DI = 75% ETC and T3 = PRD50) and three nitrogen rates (F1 = N150: 150 kg N ha-1, F2 = N75: 75kg N ha-1, F3 = N0: 0kg N ha-1) were applied since the tuber initiation (55 days after planting) to maturity (100 days after planting). The results showed that the water regime affected negatively the total dry matter accumulation. A decline of 7 and 18.6% was registered in the two treatments T2 and T3 compared to the control T1. The WC decreased during water restriction respectively by 16; 33 and 29% for the T2 and T3 (PRD50 left) and T3 (PRD50 right) compared to T1. For the three nitrogen treatments (F1, F2 and F3) the water restriction has increased the WUE. The best values was recorded in the treatment T2 and then in the treatment T3 from where this increase compared to T1 was equal to (22.6% and 12.9%), (24.1% and 12, 4%) and (21.9% and 15.3%) respectively

There's an App for That:Development of an Application to Operationalize the Global Diet Quality Score

BACKGROUND: The global diet quality score (GDQS) is a simple, standardized metric appropriate for population-based measurement of diet quality globally.OBJECTIVES: We aimed to operationalize data collection by modifying the quantity of consumption cutoffs originally developed for the GDQS food groups and to statistically evaluate the performance of the operationalized GDQS relative to the original GDQS against nutrient adequacy and noncommunicable disease (NCD)-related outcomes.METHODS: The GDQS application uses a 24-h open-recall to collect a full list of all foods consumed during the previous day or night, and automatically classifies them into corresponding GDQS food group. Respondents use a set of 10 cubes in a range of predetermined sizes to determine if the quantity consumed per GDQS food group was below, or equal to or above food group-specific cutoffs established in grams. Because there is only a total of 10 cubes but as many as 54 cutoffs for the GDQS food groups, the operationalized cutoffs differ slightly from the original GDQS cutoffs.RESULTS: A secondary analysis using 5 cross-sectional datasets comparing the GDQS with the original and operationalized cutoffs showed that the operationalized GDQS remained strongly correlated with nutrient adequacy and was equally sensitive to anthropometric and other clinical measures of NCD risk. In a secondary analysis of a longitudinal cohort study of Mexican teachers, there were no differences between the 2 modalities with the beta coefficients per 1 SD change in the original and operationalized GDQS scores being nearly identical for weight gain (-0.37 and -0.36, respectively, P &lt; 0.001 for linear trend for both models) and of the same clinical order of magnitude for waist circumference (-0.52 and -0.44, respectively, P &lt; 0.001 for linear trend for both models).CONCLUSION: The operationalized GDQS cutoffs did not change the performance of the GDQS and therefore are recommended for use to collect GDQS data in the future.</p

Procédé de couchage du papier (caractérisation et simulation de l'écoulement)

L'objectif de ce travail est d améliorer les connaissances relatives aux procédés et aux suspensions de couchage. Concernant l'écoulement dans la cavité Short-Dwell, nous avons commencé par étudier analytiquement, expérimentalement et numériquement l'écoulement dans une géométrie plus académique (cavité cylindrique fermée). Cette investigation a permis de mettre en évidence des phénomènes de stabilité très intéressants au niveau fondamental et de proposer une expression du nombre de Reynolds critique tenant compte de l'extension angulaire de la cavité. Par la suite, nous avons montré numériquement que l'écoulement dans la cavité Short Dwell évolue également vers une configuration tridimensionnelle. Il suit les mêmes séquences de transitions que celles constatées dans la cavité cylindrique. La longueur d'onde axiale obtenue dans ce dispositif lors de la première transition est comparable à celle des stries observées sur le papier après son couchage Ce résultat permet d'apporter l explication des défauts engendrés par le Short-Dwell lors de couchage du papier au-delà d'un Reynolds critique dépendant notamment de la rhéologie de la sauce. Dans la seconde partie de notre travail, nous avons cherché à caractériser le comportement rhéologique des sauces aussi bien les slurries des différentes composantes que les sauces elles-mêmes. Nous avons étudié dans ce cadre, deux familles de sauces de couchage (Hélio et Offset) dont nous avons fait varier la composition, la concentration, les pigments et les liants (latex). Les résultats obtenus ont permis d'établir la sensibilité des trois groupes de paramètres rhéologiques (élastiques, visqueux, thérmodépendent) de ces différentes compositions des sauces. Cette étude systématique permet de donner une description des sauces par des paramètres identifiables et de quantifier la dépendance temporelle leur comportement. Par ailleurs, l'utilisation du rhéovisiomètre pour qualifier la rhéologie des sauces semble apporter des informations précieuses concernant la microstructure des solutions. En effet, les premiers résultats que nous avons obtenus par ce dispositif remettent en cause le schéma généralement admis qui consiste à supposer que la sauce est structurée au repos sous forme d'un floc macroscopique qui se désintègre en flocs de plus en plus petits avec l'accroissement du cisaillement. La visualisation des structures de la solution montre que les flocs apparaissent avec l'écoulement à partir d'une sauce homogène au repos.NANCY/VANDOEUVRE-INPL (545472102) / SudocSudocFranceF

Roles of the Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli ZnuACB and ZupT Zinc Transporters during Urinary Tract Infection▿

Roles of the ZnuACB and ZupT transporters were assessed in Escherichia coli K-12 and uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) CFT073. K-12 and CFT073 Δznu ΔzupT mutants demonstrated decreased 65Zn2+ uptake and growth in minimal medium. CFT073Δznu demonstrated an intermediate decrease of 65Zn2+ uptake and growth in minimal medium, whereas the CFT073ΔzupT mutant grew as well as CFT073 and exhibited a less marked decrease in 65Zn2+ uptake. CFT073 mutants grew as well as the wild type in human urine. In competitive infections in CBA/J mice, the ΔzupT mutant demonstrated no disadvantage during urinary tract infection. In contrast, the UPEC Δznu and Δznu ΔzupT strains demonstrated significantly reduced numbers in the bladders (mean 4.4- and 30-fold reductions, respectively) and kidneys (mean 41- and 48-fold reductions, respectively). In addition, in single-strain infection experiments, the Δznu and Δznu ΔzupT mutants were reduced in the kidneys (P = 0.0012 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Complementation of the CFT073 Δznu ΔzupT mutant with the znuACB genes restored growth in Zn-deficient medium and bacterial numbers in the bladder and kidneys. The loss of the zinc transport systems decreased both motility and resistance to hydrogen peroxide, which could be restored by supplementation with zinc. Overall, the results indicate that Znu and ZupT are required for growth in zinc limited-conditions, that Znu is the predominant zinc transporter, and that the loss of Znu and ZupT has a cumulative effect on fitness during UTI, which may in part be due to reduced resistance to oxidative stress and motility

Hydrus-1D model calibration and validation in various field conditions for simulating water flow and salts transport in a semi-arid region of Tunisia

In semi-arid regions like Tunisia, agricultural use of saline waters raises soil salinization risk. A land-parcel was selected in the semi-arid region of Ariana for simulating water and salts dynamics in order to assess the ability of Hydrus-1D model in various field conditions and to assess the environmental risks due to the salinization process. Four water qualities were used (C1 = 1 dS m−1, C2 = 7 dS m−1, C3 = 14 dS m−1 and C4 = 21 dS m−1) to irrigate four plots with same dose. Monitoring of the soil moisture was carried out by gravimetric method and soil salinity by measuring the electrical conductivity of the saturated paste up to 80 cm in depth. The model was calibrated during 7 days and the validation was carried out during 383 days. The measured water and saline profiles are similar to the simulated profiles which demonstrate the ability of Hydrus-1D for reproducing water and salts dynamics in such conditions. The soil salinization risk is higher with the use of C3 and C4 water qualities for irrigation. The model can be a powerful tool to assess the environmental risks related to the irrigation with saline waters in semi-arid regions. Keywords: Soil, Salinization, Risk assessment, Hydrus-1D, Tunisi