2,570 research outputs found
Top Performing Farmers are Information Rich: Case Studies of Sheep and Cattle Farmers in the South Island of New Zealand
The purpose of this study was to investigate the management behaviours of six top performing sheep and beef farmers from the South Island of New Zealand. Information was obtained through interviews using grounded theory qualitative research methodology. All six farmers were found to be information rich. They source information widely and with a discriminating behaviour. They read widely, typically about one hour per day. They participate in discussion groups but only when relevant information can be obtained. They regularly visit other farms and tend to associate with other high-performing people. They have well developed networks. They have challenging, relevant and achievable goals and targets. All six farmers plan well ahead but with a strong focus on flexibility. They are early adopters rather than first movers in relation to new technologies. Having decided that an innovation has merit they usually test it in a small way before making any major commitment that cannot be reversed. All were benchmarking their operations against other top operators, both formally and informally. They were particularly interested in the reasons why other farmers were achieving success, and hence liked to have direct contact with these people. All of them were interested in the financial benchmark comparisons obtained from their accountant. These top performing farmers have well developed management frameworks such that the process of planning, implementation, monitoring and reflection occurs on a daily basis. Farming is a passion as well as a career.benchmarking, farm management, sheep and beef cattle farmers, grounded theory, New Zealand, decision-making process, information sourcing, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries,
Dermatophytes’ identification by Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. (MALDI-TOF MS) - the experience of a clinical laboratory
Objectives:
Dermatophytes are a challenging group of fungi that infect the keratinized tissues. The taxonomy of these
fungi has changed recently with the reclassification of some species and description of new ones. However,
many clinical laboratories still base the identification of dermatophytes on their phenotype. Since
dermatophytes are very pleomorphic, macro and micromorphology are often insufficient to reach a correct
classification and may lead to misidentifications. The identification based on MALDI-TOF relies on the protein
profile of the microorganism. Thus, this study aims to summarize our current laboratorial experience of
dermatophyte identification using MALDI-TOF MS.
Methods:
From january to april 2018, 95 dermatophytes isolates, collected from human keratinized samples and also
from quality control programs were characterized by phenotypic analysis, and by VITEK MS V3.2 bioMerieux.
Before identification procedure, isolates were inoculated on Sabouraud Dextrose agar plates and incubated at
27°C during 5 to 10 days. Species were identified taking into account clinical features, as well as cultural,
microscopic and physiological characteristics. Prior to MALDI-TOF MS analysis, the samples were pre-treated
according to the manufacturer’s protocol for filamentous fungi. Molecular identification by sequencing of the
internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) was performed in 34 of those isolates
Results:
Through phenotypic analysis eight different species were identified (54 Trichophyton rubrum; 4 T.soudanense;
22 T.interdigitale; 1 T.mentagrophytes; 3 T.tonsurans; 7 Microsporum canis; 3 M.audouinii; 1 Microsporum
spp.- (non canis or audouinii). MALDI-TOF analysis showed an identification agreement in 80 cases (84,2%)
with a confidence level of 99,9%. Eight isolates showed divergent identification results: three T.rubrum were
identified as T.violaceum, three T.soudanense were identified as T.rubrum, one T.mentagrophytes was
identified as T.interdigitale and one T.tonsurans was identified as T.rubrum. In four cases MALDI-TOF analysis
did not get a profile. The ITS sequencing analysis of discrepant results corroborated the MALDI-TOF
identification in five of them. On the other hand, T.soudanense was only identified by phenotypic analysis since
MALDI-TOF and ITS sequencing result was T.rubrum. MALDITOF identification of T.violaceum was not
confirmed by ITS sequencing that identified T. rubrum instead, in accordance with the phenotypic
identification.
Conclusion:
Correct identification of dermatophytes to species level requires sequencing of the ITS, LSU, and/or betatubulin
regions. The implementation of this methodology in a clinical laboratory is expensive and time
consuming. MALDI-TOF identification is a good option for dermatophytes’ identification performed in
laboratory routine, since costs of consumables as well as time of sample preparation are lower than for PCR
analysis and doesn’t require long training period as phenotypic identification does. In this study, however, both
methods failed to identify some species variants like Trichophyton soudanense or T. violaceum. The combined
use of both MALDI-TOF and phenotypic methods seems to be the better approach for dermatophytes’
identification since some species show significant phenotypic and clinical differences.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Frequency and molecular epidemiology of Aspergillus isolated from patients with suspicion of respiratory fungal infection
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of Aspergillus detected in respiratory samples from a cohort of patients with suspicion of fungal infection of the respiratory tract as well as to determine the susceptibility to azoles of the isolates from the Fumigati section.
Methods: A retrospective study was performed involving samples obtained from 16 hospitals covering different districts of continental Portugal and Azores islands. One hundred and eighty-seven respiratory samples (101 bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, 52 bronchial lavages, 27 bronchial secretions, 6 expectorations and 1 bronchial aspirate) were collected between November 2011 and December 2017 from a cohort of 146 patients with suspicion of respiratory fungal infection (ages ranging from 20 to 87 years old). Demographic and clinical data were recorded. Detection of Aspergillus was done by culture, immunoenzimatic assay and/or molecular techniques. Aspergillus molecular identification to species level was performed by sequencing of the calmodulin and β-tubulin genes. To detect possible resistance to azoles, isolates belonging to section Fumigati were inoculated into Sabouraud dextrose agar media supplemented with 1 µg/ml or 4 µg/ml of voriconazole, 4 µg/ml of itraconazole and 0.5 µg/ml of posaconazole and their growth was observed and recorded after 7 days of incubation at 27ºC. Doubtful results were confirmed when possible by E-test and by real-time multiplex PCR for the detection of mutations in the Cyp51A gene.
Results: Fifty-seven (39.0%) of the studied patients were positive for Aspergillus. From the cases with a positive culture (n=58) the species were identified by sequencing and belonged to six different sections. The most frequently isolated was the section Nigri (42.1%) followed by the Fumigati (33.3%) and Flavi sections (8.6%). Regarding the species, the most frequent was A. niger sensu stricto (33.9%) followed by A. fumigatus sensu stricto (32.1%). Nine cryptic species were also identified which frequency was 21.4%. In order to study the frequency of azole resistance in Fumigati isolates collected from the samples of this cohort as well from other biological products, 52 isolates - Aspergillus fumigatus sensu stricto (n=45), A. lentulus (n=4), A. udagawae (n=2) and A. pseudofelis (n=1) – were tested. The tested A. fumigatus sensu stricto isolates did not show resistance to azoles. An A. udagawae strain revealed low susceptibility to voriconazole (MIC was not determined due to loss of strain viability). An A. pseudofelis strain also showed decreased susceptibility to voriconazole (MIC =1 μg/ml) as well as to and itraconazole (MIC = 2 μg/ml).
Conclusion: In this study, the genus Aspergillus was frequently isolated in the respiratory samples tested and a high number of cryptic species was detected. Although resistance to azoles was not a problem identified in the tested isolates, determination of the in vitro susceptibility profile and molecular identification of the Aspergillus species is essential to improve the diagnosis and management of aspergillosis since several cryptic species have intrinsic resistance to antifungal drugs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
New approaches to antimalarial chemotherapy: design and synthesis of bicyclic endoperoxides and of peptide and peptidomimetic carbonyl containing cysteine protease inhibitors
Tese dout., Química Orgânica, Universidade do Algarve, 2007Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT
Aproximative solutions to the neutrino oscillation problem in matter
We present approximative solutions to the neutrino evolution equation
calculated by different methods. In a two neutrino framework, using the
physical parameters which gives the main effects to neutrino oscillations from
nu{e} to another flavors for L=3000Km and E=1GeV, the results for the
transition probability calculated by using series solutions, by to take the
neutrino evolution operator as a product of ordered partial operators and by
numerical methods, for a linearly and sinusoidally varying matter density are
compared. The extension to an arbitrary density profile is discussed and the
evolution operator as a product of partial operators in the three neutrino case
is obtained.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Trends dynamics in Psychiatric Systems today
FThe author makes some epistemologicalconsiderations on the urge to spreadpsychosomatics. To begin with, the heavyburden of mental disturbs in health caresystems today lead to an absolute need fora proper psychosomatic training of generalpractitioners.Then the 50 years of increasingpsycopharmacological treatments availableaccount for the mainstream split-care model;as the number of psychiatrists who focuson logotherapy decreased systematicallywhile the professional body of nonmedicaltherapists has grown. Hence the impendingneed of psychosomatics as a counterbalanceto adequately deal with the bio-psychosocialaspects involved both in heath and indisease.Finally concluding that, between physicalismand panpsychism, Psychosomatic Medicinehas to find its way by getting rid of theoutdated cartesian dualism
A mulher “objecto” na publicidade
Apesar da vulgaridade com que hoje em dia é usada a expressão “corpo objecto” são
vários os
autores que a empregam em qualquer representação do corpo da mulher destinada a promover
produtos masculinos ou femininos esta
comunicação, fruto de uma investigação inserida no
contexto da minha tese de Doutoramento, intitulada As representações do corpo na publicidade,
já apresentada publicamente no ISCTE (12 de Maio de 2005), visa demonstrar que este
conceito apenas se deve aplicar aquando do recurso gratuito e primário de corpos femininos
reveladores de determinados detalhes da sua feminilidade poses
sensuais ou mesmo eróticas,
corpos seminus ou nus e
limitados à promoção de produtos masculinos, tal qual defendem
Villegas e Chica: «é preciso reconhecer que o tratamento da mulher como objecto sexual
passivo emerge de um modo dominante em anúncios dirigidos de forma exclusiva ou
prevalecente aos homens: produtos de barbear, roupa masculina, determinados modelos de
automóveis, bebidas alcoólicas, etc.» (2001, 40). 1 Nestas situações, a mulher acaba por ser ela
própria um produto, um objecto, já que emerge nas mais diversas poses, funcionando como um
elemento altamente persuasivo.
Para demonstrar a esta posição recorri a uma vasta metodologia de análise da imagem, da qual
destaco o inventário de figuras de retórica da imagem publicitária oferecida por J. Durand
(1972); os níveis de codificação da imagem publicitária propostos por Umberto Eco (1987); o
estudo de Kathy Myers (1995), uma investigadora norteamericana
que, baseada nas teorias
feministas se dedica ao estudo da mulher na publicidade; e os trabalhos de LazierSmith
(citado
por Gauli, 2000), investigador americano que analisou, de um modo contínuo, nos anos 70 e 80,
a publicidade norteamericana,
mais especificamente a publicidade das revistas, MS, Playboy,
Time e Nensweek.
Esta metodologia foi aplicada a um extenso corpus de anúncios, com especial incidência da
marca Calvin Klein
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