Antimicrobial screening of new 5-(chromene-3-yl)methylene-2,4-thiazolidinediones

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Identification and Prevalence of Escherichia coli and Escherichia coli O157: H7 in Foods

The objective of this study is to investigate the incidence of Escherichia coli in animal and non-animal foods, and mainly the incidence of the serotype O157: H7 producing verotoxin. The presence of common Escherichia coli and Escherichia coli O157: H7 in various foods (of animal and non animal origin) was performed in Transylvania area. We analyzed a total of one hundred forty-one samples of minced meat, one hundred twenty-six samples of meat , twenty six samples of meat products, five samples of alcoholic beverages, three samples of seafood, one hundred samples of cheese from pasteurized milk, seventeen samples of butter, four samples of vegetables and one sample of milk powder, using the standard cultural method and Vidas Eco method for E. coli O157: H7 strains. E. coli was identified in 50 samples of minced meat, 55 samples of meat prepared, 4 samples of meat products, 2 samples of alcoholic beverages, 25 samples of cheese from pasteurized milk, 6 samples of butter and 1 sample of vegetables. In this study were not been identified any foods contaminated with the E. coli O157: H7 serotype. The results of this reasearch have demostrated that E. coli wich represents a hygienic indicator of recent food contamination, can be destroyed with heat treatment and hygienic handling of foods. Our country over the years has been among the few countries where the incidence of the E. coli O157: H7 serotype has been minimal

A Cloud-Edge Orchestration Platform for the Innovative Industrial Scenarios of the IoTwins Project

The concept of digital twins has growing more and more interest not only in the academic field but also among industrial environments thanks to the fact that the Internet of Things has enabled its cost-effective implementation. Digital twins (or digital models) refer to a virtual representation of a physical product or process that integrate data from various sources such as data APIs, historical data, embedded sensors and open data, giving to the manufacturers an unprecedented view into how their products are performing. The EU-funded IoTwins project plans to build testbeds for digital twins in order to run real-time computation as close to the data origin as possible (e.g., IoT Gateway or Edge nodes), and whilst batch-wise tasks such as Big Data analytics and Machine Learning model training are advised to run on the Cloud, where computing resources are abundant. In this paper, the basic concepts of the IoTwins project, its reference architecture, functionalities and components have been presented and discussed

Agricultural trends in Romania in the context of the current trends of the world economy

The role of agriculture is an extremely important one because it provides the necessary production of foods for the population and, at the same time, represents a source of raw materials for different processing industries. For a growing population, agriculture has been the main source of agri-food products that must ensure the food security of the population. Compared to other states of Europe, Romania is one of the European countries with the most favourable soil and climate conditions for agriculture. The last world crises, from the crisis in 2008 to the pandemic crisis in 2020-2021, and especially to the current conflict between Russia and the Ukraine, have brought up the issue of food self-sufficiency. During the current period, it is important to know what production can be obtained in Romanian agriculture and if it can provide the food necessary for the population. An analysis regarding the dynamics of the cultivated areas and production of the main crops in Romania has been carried out, for each of its 8 development regions. The data, collected from different sources, were analysed using different methods. The research results highlight, for example, that Romania can easily achieve the self-sufficiency stage for most agricultural products of plant origin. In conclusion, natural resources, as well as the existence of a certain material base in Romanian agriculture, can ensure the increase of agricultural production, the satisfaction of the food needs of the population, as well as a certain availability for export

CONOCIMIENTOS SOBRE EL VIRUS DEL PAPILOMA HUMANO EN ESTUDIANTES DE ENFERMERÍA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE LOJA

Introducción: El virus del papiloma humano (VPH), es uno de los agentes etiológicos de las Infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS). El 90% de las personas serán infectadas por el VPH durante su vida, poniéndoles en riesgo para una variedad de problemas de salud. Objetivo: Identificar el nivel de conocimientos sobre VPH en estudiantes de Enfermería de la Universidad Nacional de Loja. Método: Se llevó a cabo una investigación con enfoque cuantitativo, descriptivo y de corte transversal, con una población conformada por 50 estudiantes de primer y segundo ciclo de la carrera de Enfermería. Fue utilizado un cuestionario validado por expertos, con un alfa de Cronbach 0,768, lo que le infiere una alta confiabilidad, conformado por 15 preguntas cerradas, que incluyó edad, procedencia, actividad sexual, parejas sexuales, etiología del virus de papiloma humano, modo de transmisión, clínica y prevención. Resultados: Se observó un predominio de: el rango de edad de 17 a 22 años con 80%, el sexo femenino en 80% y los estudiantes que no tienen más de una pareja sexual en 70%. En relación con los conocimientos, el 38% de los participantes obtuvo un resultado muy bueno, un 30% obtuvo un resultado bueno, un 16 % un resultado excelente y un 4% obtuvo un resultado insuficiente. Conclusiones:  Existe un predominio de conocimiento entre muy bueno, bueno y excelente en relación con el VPH, solo una discreta minoría presentó conocimientos insuficientes. Se debe continuar con las estrategias de aprendizajes implementadas en los estudiantes de los primeros semestres, con la finalidad de prevenir esta infección. Palabras clave: conocimientos, estudiantes, papiloma, infección por papilomavirus, infección por VPH     ABSTRACT Introduction: The human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the etiological agents of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). 90% of people will be infected with HPV during their lifetime, putting them at risk for a variety of health problems. Objective: To identify the level of knowledge about HPV in Nursing students at the National University of Loja. Method: An investigation was carried out with a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional approach, with a population made up of 50 students of the first and second cycle of the Nursing career. A questionnaire validated by experts was used, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.768, which infers high reliability, made up of 15 closed questions, which included age, origin, sexual activity, sexual partners, etiology of the human papillomavirus, mode of transmission, clinic and prevention. Results: A predominance was observed of: the age range of 17 to 22 years with 80%, the female sex in 80% and the students who do not have more than one sexual partner in 70%. In relation to knowledge, 38% of the participants obtained a very good result, 30% obtained a good result, 16% an excellent result and 4% obtained an insufficient result. Conclusions: There is a predominance of knowledge between very good, good and excellent in relation to HPV, only a discreet minority presented insufficient knowledge. The learning strategies implemented in the students of the first semesters should be continued, in order to prevent this infection     Keywords: knowledge, students, papilloma, papillomavirus infection, HPV infectio

Atrasentan and renal events in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease (SONAR): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Short-term treatment for people with type 2 diabetes using a low dose of the selective endothelin A receptor antagonist atrasentan reduces albuminuria without causing significant sodium retention. We report the long-term effects of treatment with atrasentan on major renal outcomes. Methods: We did this double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial at 689 sites in 41 countries. We enrolled adults aged 18–85 years with type 2 diabetes, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)25–75 mL/min per 1·73 m 2 of body surface area, and a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR)of 300–5000 mg/g who had received maximum labelled or tolerated renin–angiotensin system inhibition for at least 4 weeks. Participants were given atrasentan 0·75 mg orally daily during an enrichment period before random group assignment. Those with a UACR decrease of at least 30% with no substantial fluid retention during the enrichment period (responders)were included in the double-blind treatment period. Responders were randomly assigned to receive either atrasentan 0·75 mg orally daily or placebo. All patients and investigators were masked to treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was a composite of doubling of serum creatinine (sustained for ≥30 days)or end-stage kidney disease (eGFR <15 mL/min per 1·73 m 2 sustained for ≥90 days, chronic dialysis for ≥90 days, kidney transplantation, or death from kidney failure)in the intention-to-treat population of all responders. Safety was assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of their assigned study treatment. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01858532. Findings: Between May 17, 2013, and July 13, 2017, 11 087 patients were screened; 5117 entered the enrichment period, and 4711 completed the enrichment period. Of these, 2648 patients were responders and were randomly assigned to the atrasentan group (n=1325)or placebo group (n=1323). Median follow-up was 2·2 years (IQR 1·4–2·9). 79 (6·0%)of 1325 patients in the atrasentan group and 105 (7·9%)of 1323 in the placebo group had a primary composite renal endpoint event (hazard ratio [HR]0·65 [95% CI 0·49–0·88]; p=0·0047). Fluid retention and anaemia adverse events, which have been previously attributed to endothelin receptor antagonists, were more frequent in the atrasentan group than in the placebo group. Hospital admission for heart failure occurred in 47 (3·5%)of 1325 patients in the atrasentan group and 34 (2·6%)of 1323 patients in the placebo group (HR 1·33 [95% CI 0·85–2·07]; p=0·208). 58 (4·4%)patients in the atrasentan group and 52 (3·9%)in the placebo group died (HR 1·09 [95% CI 0·75–1·59]; p=0·65). Interpretation: Atrasentan reduced the risk of renal events in patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease who were selected to optimise efficacy and safety. These data support a potential role for selective endothelin receptor antagonists in protecting renal function in patients with type 2 diabetes at high risk of developing end-stage kidney disease. Funding: AbbVie

INDIGO-DataCloud: A data and computing platform to facilitate seamless access to e-infrastructures

This paper describes the achievements of the H2020 project INDIGO-DataCloud. The project has provided e-infrastructures with tools, applications and cloud framework enhancements to manage the demanding requirements of scientific communities, either locally or through enhanced interfaces. The middleware developed allows to federate hybrid resources, to easily write, port and run scientific applications to the cloud. In particular, we have extended existing PaaS (Platform as a Service) solutions, allowing public and private e-infrastructures, including those provided by EGI, EUDAT, and Helix Nebula, to integrate their existing services and make them available through AAI services compliant with GEANT interfederation policies, thus guaranteeing transparency and trust in the provisioning of such services. Our middleware facilitates the execution of applications using containers on Cloud and Grid based infrastructures, as well as on HPC clusters. Our developments are freely downloadable as open source components, and are already being integrated into many scientific applications

Baseline criteria for achieving software quality within the European research ecosystem

Resumen del trabajo presentado a IBERGRID: Delivering Innovative Computing and Data services to Researchers, celebrado en Santiago de Compostela (España) del 23 al 26 de septiembre de 2019