Staphylococcus aureus in Some Brazilian Dairy Industries: Changes of Contamination and Diversity

Staphylococcus aureus, a major food-poisoning pathogen, is a common contaminant in dairy industries worldwide, including in Brazil. We determined the occurrence of S. aureus in five dairies in Brazil over 8 months. Of 421 samples, 31 (7.4%) were positive for S. aureus and prevalence varied from 0 to 63.3% between dairies. Sixty-six isolates from the 31 samples were typed by Multi-Locus Sequence Typing to determine if these isolates were persistent or continuously reintroduced. Seven known sequence types (STs), ST1, ST5, ST30, ST97, ST126, ST188 and ST398, and four new ST were identified, ST3531, ST3540, ST3562 and ST3534. Clonal complex (CC) 1 (including the four new ST), known as an epidemic clone, was the dominant CC. However, there were no indications of persistence of particular ST. The resistance toward 11 antibiotic compounds was assessed. Twelve profiles were generated with 75.8% of strains being sensitive to all antibiotic classes and no Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains were found. The enterotoxin-encoding genes involved in food-poisoning, e.g., sea, sed, see, and seg were targeted by PCR. The two toxin-encoding genes, sed and see, were not detected. Only three strains (4.5%) harbored seg and two of these also harbored sea. Despite the isolates being Methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), the presence of CC1 clones in the processing environment, including some harboring enterotoxin encoding genes, is of concern and hygiene must have high priority to reduce contamination

Charting the NF-κB Pathway Interactome Map

Inflammation is part of a complex physiological response to harmful stimuli and pathogenic stress. The five components of the Nuclear Factor κB (NF-κB) family are prominent mediators of inflammation, acting as key transcriptional regulators of hundreds of genes. Several signaling pathways activated by diverse stimuli converge on NF-κB activation, resulting in a regulatory system characterized by high complexity. It is increasingly recognized that the number of components that impinges upon phenotypic outcomes of signal transduction pathways may be higher than those taken into consideration from canonical pathway representations. Scope of the present analysis is to provide a wider, systemic picture of the NF-κB signaling system. Data from different sources such as literature, functional enrichment web resources, protein-protein interaction and pathway databases have been gathered, curated, integrated and analyzed in order to reconstruct a single, comprehensive picture of the proteins that interact with, and participate to the NF-κB activation system. Such a reconstruction shows that the NF-κB interactome is substantially different in quantity and quality of components with respect to canonical representations. The analysis highlights that several neglected but topologically central proteins may play a role in the activation of NF-κB mediated responses. Moreover the interactome structure fits with the characteristics of a bow tie architecture. This interactome is intended as an open network resource available for further development, refinement and analysis

Does Performing Additional Work Improve a Student’s Accounting Principles Grade? First Analysis.

Most business students have to take accounting principles which tends to be a student’s first contact with accounting. A common method of delivery includes lectures, homework, and exams. Studies have analyzed what factors determine the success of a student in an accounting principles course. This paper will examine if a student performing additional voluntary homework influenced the final grade in an accounting principles course

Does the Location in Which the Student Sits in the Classroom Affect His or Her Performance? Evidence from an Accounting Principles Course

For many years of teaching, it has been casually observed by one of the authors that students sitting in the front of the room have performed better than students sitting in the back of the room. This paper examines the impact of the row in which the student sits (measured by rows 1 through 5) on his or her performance (measured by the final grade of student) in an Accounting Principles courses. Controlling for the grade point average and certain exploratory variables (year in school, major, and gender), the regression analysis indicated that there is no relationship between the class row and the student performance. While the great point average has a positive and significant relationship with the student performance, the student major has a negative and significant relationship with the student performance. On the other hand, the student year in school has a positive and marginal relationship with the student performance

Banquets as a Recruiting Tool for Accounting Students

Fall is normally a time of excitement and stress for both accounting majors and the recruiters who will interview them during the fall. Events that allow students and recruiters to meet in less intimidating settings than an interview room, held prior to the interviews, can reduce the stress for both and increase the value of the process. A recruiting banquet is a method to bring students and recruiters together in a structured, but less formal, setting. Students learn more about potential employers, while potential employers gain more insights into each student. Thus, both are better prepared for the interviewing process. This paper describes how a recruiting banquet has been successfully integrated into the fall interview schedule and the strengths and weaknesses of the event

Master of Accountancy and Careers in Public Accounting: A Strategic Response to Business Needs

This paper describes how the accounting faculty strategically changed a Master of Professional Accountancy program to focus on preparing students for careers in public accounting. The paper discusses strategies implemented by the faculty in the areas of curriculum development, course delivery, and student participation

Engaging Students in an Accounting Class

Many different styles exist for teaching accounting. Throughout the years, the authors applied different teaching methodologies in their accounting courses. They found that engaging students in the classroom setting helps the students to stay on task and makes the classroom experience more meaningful. This paper describes processes the authors used to enable students to actively participate in the learning process during class time