PRODUCTION OF PROBIOTICS BY IN VITRO ENRICHMENT OF BENEFICIAL MICROORGANISMS FROM HUMAN OR ANIMAL MICROBIOTA

The present invention is directed to a method of treating a dysbiosis in a mammal, preferably a human, by taking a sample of the micro-organisms that are causative of the dysbiosis, whereafter said sample is enriched in vitro for healthy bacteria, after which the sample is replaced

REAL-TIME METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF VIABLE MICRO-ORGANISMS

The invention relates to a method for real-time detection of viable microorganisms comprising: a. addition of a cell-permeable, phototautomeric compound to a micro-organism or other living cell; and b. measuring the fluorescent emission of said phototautomeric compound. Preferably the phototautomeric compound is salicylic acid, 2-hydroxy-1-naphtoic acid or 1-hydroxy-2-naphtoic acid. Further, the assay can he used to assess the antibiotic effect of a test compound. This test can be used as a high-throughput screening for compounds with antibiotic activity. Also part of the invention is the use of a cell permeable phototautomeric compound in a method for determining the viability of micro-organisms and for assessing the antibiotic effect of a test compound

Compression stockings after deep vein thrombosis: Where is the evidence?

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Characterization of Brachypodium distachyon root development

Crops like maize, rice and wheat are economically of high importance, however current yield will not sustain the world’s demands in the long run. Plant roots are crucial for uptake and transport of minerals, hormones and water via their vasculature and are therefore of interest for yield improvement. Unfortunately, root development is not yet completely understood and the research that has been performed to date has mainly focused on the dicotyledon (dicot) model system Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis). Dicots differ substantially from most crops, the majority of which are monocotyledons (monocots). for which Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) was recently proposed as a good model system. It is closely related to wheat and barley, and more distantly to rice, with a smaller genome and simplified growth conditions that make it suitable for research. My thesis has therefore focused on transferring knowledge from Arabidopsis root development into Brachypodium in order to determine to what degree research in dicots can be applied to monocot root development. The first gene that I studied was AUX1 which is coding for an auxin importer. Mutations in Arabidopsis AUX1 only resulted in mild root phenotypes whereas in monocots, including Brachypodium, the phenotypes also include shoot dwarfism and even sterility. Furthermore Brachypodium aux1 mutant displays increased root cell elongation and reduced cell diameter. Other genes that were further investigated during this thesis are OCTOPUS (OPS), BREVIS RADIX (BRX), CLAVATA3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION 45, BARELY ANY MERISTEM 3 and BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1. All of them affect protophloem development in Arabidopsis and mutations in OPS and BRX result in small roots due to undifferentiated cells within the protophloem. In order to analyze these gene families in Brachypodium, we developed a CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system to create the corresponding mutants. We discovered that most Brachypodium homologs were part of bigger gene families and therefore multiple members may have to be mutated in order to observe putative phenotypes. This project is still ongoing, however preliminary data suggests that indeed for BRX family members, single, double and triple mutants do not induce phenotypes. Also preliminary results for double ops family member mutants, indicate the lack of root phenotypes. As for AUX1, these preliminary results differ from the phenotypes observed in Arabidopsis and underlines the importance of research in a monocot model plant in order to understand crop development better and hopefully improve yield on the long term

Transcriptional activity around bacterial cell death reveals molecular biomarkers for cell viability

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In bacteriology, the ability to grow in selective media and to form colonies on nutrient agar plates is routinely used as a retrospective criterion for the detection of living bacteria. However, the utilization of indicators for bacterial viability-such as the presence of specific transcripts or membrane integrity-would overcome bias introduced by cultivation and reduces the time span of analysis from initiation to read out. Therefore, we investigated the correlation between transcriptional activity, membrane integrity and cultivation-based viability in the Gram-positive model bacterium <it>Bacillus subtilis</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present microbiological, cytological and molecular analyses of the physiological response to lethal heat stress under accurately defined conditions through systematic sampling of bacteria from a single culture exposed to gradually increasing temperatures. We identified a coherent transcriptional program including known heat shock responses as well as the rapid expression of a small number of sporulation and competence genes, the latter only known to be active in the stationary growth phase.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The observed coordinated gene expression continued even after cell death, in other words after all bacteria permanently lost their ability to reproduce. Transcription of a very limited number of genes correlated with cell viability under the applied killing regime. The transcripts of the expressed genes in living bacteria – but silent in dead bacteria-include those of essential genes encoding chaperones of the protein folding machinery and can serve as molecular biomarkers for bacterial cell viability.</p

Death or alive : can road accident victims in the Western Cape get access to trauma care?

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.The World Health Organization (2009) indicates that the African region has some of the world’s highest road traffic fatalities globally making it the 9th leading cause of death in the region. Data shows that the risk of dying, as a result of a road traffic collision, is highest in the African region at 24.1/100 000 population (the global rate is 18/100 000). Nigeria and South Africa have the highest road traffic fatality rates (33.7 and 31.9/100 000, respectively) and, together with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, account for 64% of all road traffic deaths in the region (Peden et al., 2013). There is consensus in the literature that the provision of appropriate medical care following a road accident is a critical determinant of both the chance of survival and, on survival, the quality of life (ETSC, 1999; OECD, 1999). The potential to reduce fatalities by means of early and appropriate medical treatment is associated with the so called “golden hour” (the time to access a trauma care facility). This paper identifies the accessibility of trauma care facilities in the Western Cape.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material was published using Adobe Acrobat 10.1.0 Technology. The original CD ROM was produced by CE Projects cc. Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected]