Detection of Salmonella in Poultry Using Conventional Culture Methods and Polymerase Chain Reaction Technique

A study was carried out to evaluate three culture media and PCR for the detection of Salmonella spp. to improve Salmonella monitoring program. A total of 109 samples were collected from two farms. Sixty four samples were collected from farm A. These included 16 cloacal swabs collected from broilers before slaughtering, 18 intestinal swabs and 20 caecal swabs collected from broilers after evisceration, and 10 cloacal swabs collected from village chickens. Forty five samples were collected from farm B, which included 15 cloacal swabs from each of village chickens, turkeys, and guinea fowls. Samples were pre-enriched in BPW and investigated by plating them on XLT4 agar after enrichment in selenite cystine broth, BPLS agar after enrichment in Rappaport-Vasilliadis broth, and DIASALM directly after pre-enric hment in BPW. Suspected positive colonies were confirmed biochemically and serologically. DIASALM and BPLS agar were comparatively evaluated against XLT4 agar as the "gold standard" using Kappa statistic to determine the level of agreement between them. A total of 27 (24.77%) Salmonella were detected from the 109 samples. Isolation rates for XLT4, DIASALM, and BPLS were 20.20% (22 out of 109), 17.43% (19 out of 109), and 13.8% (15 out of 109), respectively. The sensitivity and agreement (Kappa statistic) with the "gold standard" for each evaluated detection method were: 70.4% and 0.69 (substantial) for DIASALM and 55.56% and 0.58 (mode rate) for BPLS. For the detection of Salmonella spp. by PCR, bacterial chromosomal DNA was extracted by boiling. Amplicons (429 bp) and (284 bp) derived from primers to the genomic random fragment (primers ST11 and ST15) and invA genes (primers 139 and 141) respectively, were confirmed as Salmonella specific on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels. Using PCR assay Salmonella was detected 24% (13 out of 54) and 13% (7 out of 54) in broilers in farm A using primers ST11-ST15 and 139-141, respectively. Poultry species in farm B were negative for Salmonella by PCR. A specific primer was used for the detection of Salmonella enteritidis. None of Salmonella detected was Salmonella enteritidis. This study concluded that XLT4 agar is the most sensitive medium and is very specific for the isolation of Salmonella from chicken feces. DIASALM is a good medium for the isolation of Salmonella. The inability of PCR to successfully detect Salmonella specific products from all the samples that were positive for isolation is not clear. However, this would be partly explained by the presence of inhibitor factors in the DNA preparations. In addition, the primer set ST11-ST15 used in this study has not before been tested on cloacal swabs and fecal samples from poultry. Perhaps, with improved DNA extraction method may overcome the inhibitory problem and also low yield of DNA. PCR should be used together with cultivation for the detection of Salmonella especially when the serovar is to be determined

Global patterns in the divergence between phylogenetic diversity and species richness in terrestrial birds

Aim The conservation value of sites is often based on species richness (SR).However, metrics of phylogenetic diversity (PD) reflect a community’s evolu-tionary potential and reveal the potential for additional conservation valueabove that based purely on SR. Although PD is typically correlated with SR,localized differences in this relationship have been found in different taxa.Here, we explore geographical variation in global avian PD. We identify wherePD is higher or lower than expected (from SR) and explore correlates of thosedifferences, to find communities with high irreplaceability, in terms of theuniqueness of evolutionary histories.Location Global terrestrial.Methods Using comprehensive avian phylogenies and global distributionaldata for all extant birds, we calculated SR and Faith’s PD, a widely appliedmeasure of community PD, across the terrestrial world. We modelled the rela-tionship between avian PD for terrestrial birds and its potential environmentalcorrelates. Analyses were conducted at a global scale and also for individualbiogeographical realms. Potential explanatory variables of PD included SR,long-term climate stability, climatic diversity (using altitudinal range as aproxy), habitat diversity and proximity to neighbouring realms.Results We identified areas of high and low relative PD (rPD; PD relative tothat expected given SR). Areas of high rPD were associated with deserts andislands, while areas of low rPD were associated with historical glaciation. Ourresults suggest that rPD is correlated with different environmental variables indifferent parts of the world.Main conclusions There is geographical variation in avian rPD, much ofwhich can be explained by putative drivers. However, the importance of thesedrivers shows pronounced regional variation. Moreover, the variation in avianrPD differs substantially from patterns found for mammals and amphibians.We suggest that PD adds additional insights about the irreplaceability of com-munities to conventional metrics of biodiversity based on SR, and could beusefully included in assessments of site valuation and prioritizatio

Selective oxidative destruction of iron-sulfur clusters Ferricyanide oxidation of Azotobacter vinelandii ferredoxin I

AbstractThe destructive oxidation of aerobically isolated 7Fe Azotobacter vinelandii ferredoxin I [(7Fe)FdI] by Fe(CN)63− is examined using low-temperature magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and EPR. The results demonstrate that oxidation of the [3Fe-3S] cluster occurs only after essentially complete destruction of the [4Fe-4S] cluster. It is therefore feasible by controlled Fe(CN)63− oxidation to obtain a partially metallated form of FdI, (3Fe)FdI, containing only a [3Fe-3S) cluster. The MCD and EPR data demonstrate that the [3Fe-3S] cluster in (3Fe)FdI is essentially identical in structure to that in the native protein

Theoretical description of deformed proton emitters: nonadiabatic coupled-channel method

The newly developed nonadiabatic method based on the coupled-channel Schroedinger equation with Gamow states is used to study the phenomenon of proton radioactivity. The new method, adopting the weak coupling regime of the particle-plus-rotor model, allows for the inclusion of excitations in the daughter nucleus. This can lead to rather different predictions for lifetimes and branching ratios as compared to the standard adiabatic approximation corresponding to the strong coupling scheme. Calculations are performed for several experimentally seen, non-spherical nuclei beyond the proton dripline. By comparing theory and experiment, we are able to characterize the angular momentum content of the observed narrow resonance.Comment: 12 pages including 10 figure

Electrical resistivity at large temperatures: Saturation and lack thereof

Many transition metal compounds show saturation of the resistivity at high temperatures, T, while the alkali-doped fullerenes and the high-Tc cuprates are usually considered to show no saturation. We present a model of transition metal compounds, showing saturation, and a model of alkali-doped fullerenes, showing no saturation. To analyze the results we use the f-sum rule, which leads to an approximate upper limit for the resistivity at large T. For some systems and at low T, the resistivity increases so rapidly that this upper limit is approached for experimental T. The resistivity then saturates. For a model of transition metal compounds with weakly interacting electrons, the upper limit corresponds to a mean free path consistent with the Ioffe-Regel condition. For a model of the high Tc cuprates with strongly interacting electrons, however, the upper limit is much larger than the Ioffe-Regel condition suggests. Since this limit is not exceeded by experimental data, the data are consistent with saturation also for the cuprates. After "saturation" the resistivity usually grows slowly. For the alkali-doped fullerenes, "saturation" can be considered to have happened already for T=0, due to orientational disorder. For these systems, however, the resistivity grows so rapidly after "saturation" that this concept is meaningless. This is due to the small band width and to the coupling to the level energies of the important phonons.Comment: 22 pages, RevTeX, 19 eps figures, additional material available at http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/andersen/fullerene

A Mechanism-Based Explanation of the Institutionalization of Semantic Technologies in the Financial Industry

Part 3: Creating Value through ApplicationsInternational audienceThis paper explains how the financial industry is solving its data, risk management, and associated vocabulary problems using semantic technologies. The paper is the first to examine this phenomenon and to identify the social and institutional mechanisms being applied to socially construct a standard common vocabulary using ontology-based models. This standardized ontology-based common vocabulary will underpin the design of next generation of semantically-enabled information systems (IS) for the financial industry. The mechanisms that are helping institutionalize this common vocabulary are identified using a longitudinal case study, whose embedded units of analysis focus on central agents of change—the Enterprise Data Management Council and the Object Management Group. All this has important implications for society, as it is intended that semantically-enabled IS will, for example, provide stakeholders, such as regulators, with better transparency over systemic risks to national and international financial systems, thereby mitigating or avoiding future financial crises

Weak ferromagnetism with very large canting in a chiral lattice: (pyrimidine)2FeCl2

The transition metal coordination compound (pyrimidine)2FeCl2 crystallizes in a chiral lattice, space group I 4_1 2 2 (or I4_3 2 2). Combined magnetization, Mossbauer spectroscopy and powder neutron diffraction studies reveal that it is a canted antiferromagnet below T_N = 6.4 K with an unusually large canting of the magnetic moments of 14 deg. from their general antiferromagnetic alignment, one of the largest reported to date. This results in weak ferromagnetism with a ferromagnetic component of 1 mu_B. The large canting is due to the interplay between the antiferromagnetic exchange interaction and the local single-ion anisotropy in the chiral lattice. The magnetically ordered structure of (pyrimidine)2FeCl2, however, is not chiral. The implications of these findings for the search of molecule based materials exhibiting chiral magnetic ordering is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

RAS/MAPK activation is associated with reduced Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Therapeutic Cooperation Between MEK and PD-1/PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

PURPOSE: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in the residual disease (RD) of triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) are associated with improved survival, but insight into tumor cell-autonomous molecular pathways affecting these features are lacking. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We analyzed TILs in the RD of clinically and molecularly characterized TNBCs after NAC and explored therapeutic strategies targeting combinations of MEK inhibitors with PD-1/PD-L1-targeted immunotherapy in mouse models of breast cancer. RESULTS: Presence of TILs in the RD was significantly associated with improved prognosis. Genetic or transcriptomic alterations in Ras-MAPK signaling were significantly correlated with lower TILs. MEK inhibition upregulated cell surface MHC expression and PD-L1 in TNBC cells both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, combined MEK and PD-L1/PD-1 inhibition enhanced antitumor immune responses in mouse models of breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest the possibility that Ras-MAPK pathway activation promotes immune-evasion in TNBC, and support clinical trials combining MEK- and PD-L1-targeted therapies. Furthermore, Ras/MAPK activation and MHC expression may be predictive biomarkers of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors

Advances in ab-initio theory of Multiferroics. Materials and mechanisms: modelling and understanding

Within the broad class of multiferroics (compounds showing a coexistence of magnetism and ferroelectricity), we focus on the subclass of "improper electronic ferroelectrics", i.e. correlated materials where electronic degrees of freedom (such as spin, charge or orbital) drive ferroelectricity. In particular, in spin-induced ferroelectrics, there is not only a {\em coexistence} of the two intriguing magnetic and dipolar orders; rather, there is such an intimate link that one drives the other, suggesting a giant magnetoelectric coupling. Via first-principles approaches based on density functional theory, we review the microscopic mechanisms at the basis of multiferroicity in several compounds, ranging from transition metal oxides to organic multiferroics (MFs) to organic-inorganic hybrids (i.e. metal-organic frameworks, MOFs)Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure