Novel Probiotics and Prebiotics: How Can They Help in Human Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis?

Background and Objectives: Novel probiotics and prebiotics designed to modulate the gut microbiota for improving health outcomes are in demand as the importance of the gut microbiota in human health is revealed. A review of the scientific literature regarding the current knowledge and novel species and novel oligosaccharides for the treatment of dysbiosis-associated diseases has been carried out due to their growing interest. Results and Conclusions: The regulations governing introduction of novel probiotics and prebiotics vary by geographical region. Novel foods and foods with health claims fall under specific regulations in several countries. In European Union (EU), safety is assessed by novel food approval process and by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established Quantitative Presumption of Safety (QPS) system for bacteria and other biologicals. Any messages on health benefits are covered by the European Regulation on Health Claims (ERHC), also assessed by EFSA. Examples of recent novel probiotics in EU include Clostridium butyricum, and Bacteroides xylanisolvens and examples of novel prebiotics include human milk oligosaccharides such as Lacto-N-neotetraose. Yacon root is an example on a previously novel prebiotic food which is allowed due to the reported existing cultivation and use in EU prior to the novel food regulation. Potential future candidates include further human milk oligosaccharides and bacteria such Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Akkermasia muciniphila. Increasing knowledge on human intestinal microbiota and microbiota development enables the design of new more specific and hitherto unknown probiotics and prebiotics. Also understanding the microbe and microbe host interactions facilitates the search for novel probiotics and prebiotics

Testing for deterministic components in vector seasonal time series

Certain locally optimal tests for deterministic components in vector time series have associated sampling distributions determined by a linear combination of Beta variates. Such distributions are nonstandard and must be tabulated by Monte Carlo simulation. In this paper, we provide closed form expressions for the mean and variance of several multivariate test statistics, moments that can be used to approximate unknown distributions. In particular, we find that the two-moment Inverse Gaussian approximation provides a simple and fast method to compute accurate quantiles and p-values in small and asymptotic samples. To illustrate the scope of this approximation we review some standard tests for deterministic trends and/or seasonal patterns in VARIMA and structural time series models

Autophagy and Lipid Metabolism – A Cellular Platform where Molecular and Metabolic Pathways Converge to Explain Dengue Viral Infection

Dengue virus (DENV) is one of the most prevalent human pathogens worldwide. It causes a huge socioeconomic burden with approximately 400 million infections per year, but yet there is no vaccine or antiviral that is currently effective against the disease. DENV is spread by the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, and viral replication within the mosquito vector is required for transmission to human host. During its replication cycle, the virus cause significant changes to the host transcriptome profile, especially in the metabolic and trafficking pathways. Recent studies have shown a strong association between autophagy and lipid metabolism modulation

Evaluation of the neo-glottal closure based on the source description in esophageal voice

The characteristics of esophageal voice render its study by traditional acoustic means to be limited and complicate. These limitations are even stronger when working with patients lacking minimal skills to control the required technique. Nevertheless the speech therapist needs to know the performance and mechanics developed by the patient in producing esophageal voice, as the specific techniques required in this case are not as universal and well-known as the ones for normal voicing. Each patient develops different strategies for producing esophageal voice due to the anatomical changes affecting the crico-pharyngeal sphincter (CPS) and the functional losses resulting from surgery. Therefore it is of fundamental relevance that practitioners could count on new instruments to evaluate esophageal voice quality, which on its turn could help in the enhancement of the CPS dynamics. The present work carries out a description of the voice of four patients after undergoing laryngectomy on data obtained from the study of the neo-glottal wave profile. Results obtained after analyzing the open-close phases and the tension of the muscular body on the CPS are shown

A comparison between the soft X-ray and [O III] morphologies of active galactic nuclei

Several studies of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) have shown that the soft X-ray emission presents a size and morphology that resembles that of the narrow-line region (NLR) traced by [O III]. Since the NLR is mainly constituted by gas photoionised by the AGN, it seems logical to assume that this is also the primary source of the soft X-ray emission. However, these results are based on individual sources or small samples, particularly focused on type-2 Seyfert galaxies. Very little has been said concerning other types of AGN. The purpose of this work is to compare the circumnuclear morphologies of soft X-ray and [O III] images to test whether they match in different optical classes of AGN. Our sample is composed of 27 AGN: nine type-1 Seyferts, 10 type-2 Seyferts, and eight low ionisation nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs). We find a good match in 100% of the type-2 Seyferts in our sample. This correspondence is less frequent in type-1 Seyferts (22%) and it is not seen in LINERs. The good resemblance in type-2 Seyferts constitutes an evidence for a common physical origin. We argue that the lack of correspondence in type-1 Seyferts might be due to the line of sight perpendicular to the accretion disk. Based on the morphologies of the eight LINERs in our sample, we discard a common origin for the soft X-ray and [O III] emissions in these objects. Regarding the X-ray properties, both high column density and hard X-ray luminosity are associated with matched morphologies.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 20 pages, 9 figure

Properties of galaxies at the faint end of the Hα\alpha luminosity function at z∼0.62z\sim0.62

Studies measuring the star formation rate density, luminosity function, and properties of star-forming galaxies are numerous. However, it exists a gap at $0.5<z<0.8$ in H$\alpha$-based studies. Our main goal is to study the properties of a sample of faint H$\alpha$ emitters at $z\sim0.62$. We focus on their contribution to the faint end of the luminosity function and derived star formation rate density, characterising their morphologies and basic photometric and spectroscopic properties. We use a narrow-band technique in the near-infrared, with a filter centred at 1.06 $\mu$m. The data come from ultra-deep VLT/HAWK-I observations in the GOODS-S field with a total of 31.9 h in the narrow-band filter. We perform a visual classification of the sample and study their morphologies from structural parameters available in CANDELS. Our 28 H$\alpha$-selected sample of faint star-forming galaxies reveals a robust faint-end slope of the luminosity function $\alpha=-1.46_{-0.08}^{+0.16}$. The derived star formation rate density at $z\sim0.62$ is $\rho_\mathrm{SFR} = 0.036_{-0.008}^{+0.012} M_{\odot}~\mathrm{yr^{-1}~Mpc^{-3}}$. The sample is mainly composed of disks, but an important contribution of compact galaxies with S\'ersic indexes $n\sim2$ display the highest specific star formation rates. The luminosity function at $z\sim0.62$ from our ultra-deep data points towards a steeper $\alpha$ when an individual extinction correction for each object is applied. Compact galaxies are low-mass, low-luminosity, and starburst-dominated objects with a light profile in an intermediate stage from early to late types.Comment: Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 19 pages, 14 figures. New version includes language edited by the journa

Pensamiento aleatorio y sistemas de datos

Esta propuesta inicialmente presenta un esquema general en el cual se muestran los conceptos fundamentales del pensamiento aleatorio, y una breve descripción de ellos. Luego se definen y explican unos posibles ejes temáticos mediante los cuales se organizan los estándares por niveles de grado. A continuación se presentan esquemas generales de cada uno de estos ejes, con una somera explicación y finalmente se proponen unas situaciones problemas que sirven para desarrollar el pensamiento estadístico en el aula

Cell Biology of Virus Infection. The Role of Cytoskeletal Dynamics Integrity in the Effectiveness of Dengue Virus Infection

The cell biology of viral infections is the focus of this research, in which the role of the cytoskeleton in dengue virus (DENV) replication in cell cultures was evaluated by means of Nocodazole and Cytochalasin D treatments before and after of DENV infection. The potential contribution of cytoskeleton elements with/without the treatment of depolymerizing agents was evidenced and quantified by the subcellular distribution of viral proteins, virions produced, and viral protein quantification. The cytoskeleton is involved in DENV replication because treatments with actin microfilaments and microtubule depolymerizing agents in non-cytotoxic concentrations, affected DENV2 replication in Vero cells and decreased both the viral protein expression and infectious virion production, when compared with non-treated cells. The actin and microtubules are partly involved in DENV2 replication, since the treatment does not completely blocked viral replication, suggesting that these components are necessary but not sufficient alone for DENV2 replication in Vero cells. The structural and functional role of actin and the microtubules in replication are postulated here, opening new perspectives for understanding the architecture of the replicative complex and viral morphogenesis processes, due to the role of the cytoskeleton in the organization, recruitment, and function of the cellular elements necessary for the assembly of viral factories

Approches différentielles et système de responsabilité pénale pour les adolescents en colombie

Este artículo tiene como propósito identificar los enfoques diferenciales reconocidos en el Sistema de Responsabilidad Penal para Adolescentes en Colombia, desde su procedencia jurídica con la ley 1098 de 2006, hasta los lineamientos más específicos y recientes que orientan su aplicación en el modelo de atención al adolescente infractor. A manera de conclusión, pudo evidenciarse que en la práctica resultan limitados los instrumentos como protocolos o lineamientos que materialicen y determinen con precisión cómo y cuándo se aplican dichos enfoques; además que no existe un proceso de unificación de la información tanto a nivel cuantitativo como cualitativo de la información sobre el SPRA, ya que cada institución maneja su propia información, lo que no favorece la identificación y aplicación de los enfoques diferenciales. Por último, esta reflexión evidencia la escaza literatura e investigación que hay sobre el tema y su tímida aplicación dentro del sistema.Universidad Libre Seccional Pereira -- Facultad de Derecho, Ciencias Políticas y Sociales -- DerechoThe purpose of this article is to identify the differential approaches recognized in the System of Criminal Responsibility for Adolescents in Colombia, from their legal origin with Law 1098 of 2006, to the more specific and recent guidelines that guide their application in the model of care for adolescent offenders. By way of conclusion, it became evident that in practice there are limited instruments such as protocols or guidelines that materialize and determine precisely how and when these approaches are applied; furthermore, there is no process of unification of information at both the quantitative and qualitative level of information on the SPRA, since each institution handles its own information, which does not favor the identification and application of differential approaches. Finally, this reflection shows the scarcity of literature and research on the subject and its timid application within the system

Panorama de la construcción de vivienda sostenible e incluyente en Colombia

Sustainable development expresses the link between economic and social development and its effects on the environment. The above is not in itself a new problem, the novelty is the magnitude and extent achieved in recent years. To this challenge is added the need to generate inclusive public and residential spaces with the population with physical disabilities. These two elements establish a challenge for the housing sector, since this dynamic specifies the impacts against the mitigation of the described phenomena. The State, from this perspective, acquires a leading role since it promotes and regulates access to housing, being the main guarantor of access to housing for vulnerable populations. Defining a general overview of the subject is the main purpose of this document.El desarrollo sostenible expresa el vínculo entre el desarrollo económico y social y sus efectos sobre el medio ambiente. Lo anterior no es en sí mismo una problemática nueva, lo novedoso es la magnitud y extensión alcanzada en los últimos años. A este desafío se le suma la necesidad de generar espacios públicos y habitacionales incluyentes con la población con discapacidad física. Estos dos elementos establecen un reto para el sector de la vivienda, ya que en esta dinámica se concretan los impactos frente a la mitigación de los fenómenos descritos. El Estado, desde esta perspectiva, adquiere un rol protagónico toda vez que promueve y regula el acceso a la vivienda, siendo el principal garante de acceso a vivienda de población vulnerable. Definir un panorama general sobre la materia es el objeto central del presente documento