Screening forCronobacterSpecies in Powdered and Reconstituted Infant Formulas and from Equipment Used in Formula Preparation in Maternity Hospitals

Background/Aims: Cronobacter spp. have been identified as being of considerable risk to neonates. The occurrence of organism in infant formulas is therefore of considerable interest. Methods: The occurrence of Cronobacter spp. in infant feeds (formulas and fortified cow’s milk) was determined using most probable number (MPN) analysis, and from formula preparation utensils. Ninety nine samples were analyzed, of which 42 were unopened cans of powdered infant formula (PIF), 25 reconstituted infant formulas in feeding bottles, 27 utensils used from the preparation of infant formula, and 5 samples of fortified cow’s milk. Presumptive Cronobacter spp. isolates were identified using the 7 allele multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme. Results: C. sakazakii, C. malonaticus and C. muytjensii were recovered from PIF. Although the incidence of Cronobacter in PIF was 29% (12/42), the level was low with an average of 0.54 MPN/100g. According to MLST profiling, C. sakazakii was the most frequently isolated Cronobacter species, and C. sakazakii ST4 (associated with neonatal meningitis) was recovered from 2/42 PIF samples at 0.51 and 0.92 MPN/100g. Conclusions: Cronobacter spp. can be isolated from PIF and therefore strict hygienic practices during PIF preparation are important to minimize neonate exposure and reduce the risk of severe infections

Relating L-Resilience and Wait-Freedom via Hitting Sets

The condition of t-resilience stipulates that an n-process program is only obliged to make progress when at least n-t processes are correct. Put another way, the live sets, the collection of process sets such that progress is required if all the processes in one of these sets are correct, are all sets with at least n-t processes. We show that the ability of arbitrary collection of live sets L to solve distributed tasks is tightly related to the minimum hitting set of L, a minimum cardinality subset of processes that has a non-empty intersection with every live set. Thus, finding the computing power of L is NP-complete. For the special case of colorless tasks that allow participating processes to adopt input or output values of each other, we use a simple simulation to show that a task can be solved L-resiliently if and only if it can be solved (h-1)-resiliently, where h is the size of the minimum hitting set of L. For general tasks, we characterize L-resilient solvability of tasks with respect to a limited notion of weak solvability: in every execution where all processes in some set in L are correct, outputs must be produced for every process in some (possibly different) participating set in L. Given a task T, we construct another task T_L such that T is solvable weakly L-resiliently if and only if T_L is solvable weakly wait-free

The late bloom of (modern) science communication

This chapter describes the emergence of modern science communication in Portugal. The chapter is organised in parts. Part 2 sets the context in which science communication activities emerged and flourished in the country during the mid-1990s, anchored by a top-down government policy. This story is an historical account of the social and political factors leading up to this important episode. Whenever possible, we situate national moves within academic and policy debates on the public understanding of science, which may have influenced them. Part 3 maps the main events, activities, group initiatives and moments in science communication since then and describes the emergence of a community of practitioners, and opportunities in the professionalisation of the field. Part 4, we consider the late blooming and rapid developments of today, and the overall impact of the top-down approach on the development of modern science communication.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Potencial de uso do silício no manejo integrado da traça-das crucíferas, Plutella xylostela, em plantas de repolho.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o potencial de uso do silicio no manejo integrado da traça-das-cruciferas, com barreira fisica, contribuindo para redução do uso de agrotóxicos

Consumption orientations may support (or hinder) transitions to more plant-based diets

There have been increasing calls for triggering and sustaining a large-scale transition toward healthier and more sustainable food systems. To help materialize this transition, the present work aims to inform efforts for developing, marketing and promoting plant-based meals and plant-forward lifestyles, following a consumption-focused approach. The findings (Nparticipants = 1600, Portugal; 52.6% female, Mage = 48.30) allowed to identify trends and differences on three sets of variables – (a) current eating habits (i.e., meat, fish, and plant-based meals), (b) consumer willingness to change (i.e., reduce meat consumption, follow a plant-based diet, maintain the status quo), and (c) enablers for eating plant-based meals more often (i.e., capability, opportunity, motivation) –, considering consumer orientations toward consumption in general, and food consumption in particular. Taken together, the results suggested that some consumption orientations were aligned with the transition to more plant-based diets (e.g., food orientation toward naturalness), others were open to – but not yet materialized in – the transition (e.g., general orientation toward consumption as exploration), and still others were in tension with the transition (e.g., food orientation toward pleasure). The discussion calls for developing and testing pathways to reduce meat consumption and increase plant-based eating which capture and build upon a range of consumption orientations, rather than against them.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Potencial da macaubeira como fonte de matéria-prima para produção de biodiesel.

bitstream/item/78012/1/doc-217.pd

Doenças que incidem sobre a seringueira em Minas Gerais.

Este artigo trata somente das doencas que estao incidindo sobre as plantas nas diversas regioes do Estado de Minas Gerais, onde a cultura esta sendo implantada, advertindo-se sobre os possiveis problemas fitossanitarios que a cultura ja enfrenta e que poderao agravar-se pelo desconhecimento de suas causas

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis pancreatic destruction in Calomys callosus experimentally infected

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The wild rodent <it>Calomys callosus </it>is notably resistant to <it>Trypanosoma cruzi </it>infection. In order to better characterize this animal model for experimental infections, we inoculated <it>C</it>. <it>callosus </it>intraperitoneally with <it>Paracoccidioides brasiliensis</it>, a thermally dimorphic fungus that causes a chronic disease with severe granuloma formation in the mouse and humans. The dissemination of <it>P. brasiliensis </it>cells through the lungs, liver, pancreas, and spleen was assessed by histological analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The animals were susceptible to infection and showed a granulomatous reaction. <it>C. callosus </it>presented peritonitis characterized by the presence of exudates containing a large number of yeast cells. Extensive accumulation of yeast cells with intense destruction of the parenchyma was observed in the pancreas, which reduced the glucose levels of infected animals. These lesions were regressive in the liver, spleen, and lungs until complete recovery. The role of estrogen during <it>C. callosus </it>infection with <it>P. brasiliensis </it>was addressed by infecting ovariectomized animals. It was observed a reduced inflammatory response as well as reduced extension of tissue damage. Removal of ovaries reestablished the normal glucose levels during infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Taken together, the results presented here reveal the pancreas as being an important organ for the persistence of <it>P. brasiliensis </it>during infection of <it>C. callosus </it>and that estrogen plays an important role in the susceptibility of the animals to this pathogen.</p