Search results for "IFA"
showing 10 items of 620 documents
Influence of freezing temperatures prior to freeze-drying on viability of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria isolated from wine
2017
Aims To determine the effect of three different freezing temperatures on post-freeze-drying survival rates of wine yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). To know if a similar freeze-drying protocol can be used for both micro-organisms. Methods and Results Cells from liquid culture media were recovered and concentrated in appropriate lyoprotectants. Aliquots of each strain were frozen at −20, −80 and −196°C before vacuum drying. Viable cell counts were done before freezing and after freeze-drying. Survival rates were calculated. Freezing temperatures differently affected yeast and bacteria survival. The highest survival rates were obtained at −20 and −80°C for yeasts, but at −196°C for LAB. …
Genome-wide association scan identifies new variants associated with a cognitive predictor of dyslexia
2019
Developmental dyslexia (DD) is one of the most prevalent learning disorders, with high impact on school and psychosocial development and high comorbidity with conditions like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and anxiety. DD is characterized by deficits in different cognitive skills, including word reading, spelling, rapid naming, and phonology. To investigate the genetic basis of DD, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of these skills within one of the largest studies available, including nine cohorts of reading-impaired and typically developing children of European ancestry (N = 2562–3468). We observed a genome-wide significant effect (p < 1 × 10…
Holocene Selection for Variants Associated With General Cognitive Ability: Comparing Ancient and Modern Genomes
2017
Human populations living during the Holocene underwent considerable microevolutionary change. It has been theorized that the transition of Holocene populations into agrarianism and urbanization brought about culture-gene co-evolution that favored via directional selection genetic variants associated with higher general cognitive ability (GCA). To examine whether GCA might have risen during the Holocene, we compare a sample of 99 ancient Eurasian genomes (ranging from 4.56 to 1.21 kyr BP) with a sample of 503 modern European genomes (Fst= 0.013), using three different cognitive polygenic scores (130 SNP, 9 SNP and 11 SNP). Significant differences favoring the modern genomes were found for al…
Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Adequacy among an Older Spanish Population with Metabolic Syndrome in the PREDIMED-Plus Study: A Cross-Sectional An…
2019
Dietary guidelines emphasize the importance of a varied diet to provide an adequate nutrient intake. However, an older age is often associated with consumption of monotonous diets that can be nutritionally inadequate, increasing the risk for the development or progression of diet-related chronic diseases, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS). To assess the association between dietary diversity (DD) and nutrient intake adequacy and to identify demographic variables associated with DD, we cross-sectionally analyzed baseline data from the PREDIMED-Plus trial: 6587 Spanish adults aged 55&ndash
Plasma Metabolites From Choline Pathway and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in the PREDIMED (Prevention With Mediterranean Diet) Study.
2017
Background-The relationship between plasma concentrations of betaine and choline metabolism and major cardiovascular disease (CVD) end points remains unclear. We have evaluated the association between metabolites from the choline pathway and risk of incident CVD and the potential modifying effect of Mediterranean diet interventions. Methods and Results-We designed a case-cohort study nested within the PREDIMED (Prevention With Mediterranean Diet) trial, including 229 incident CVD cases and 751 randomly selected participants at baseline, followed up for 4.8 years. We used liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to measure, at baseline and at 1 year of follow-up, plasma concentrations …
Potential Second-Harmonic Ghost Bands in Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Difference Spectroscopy of Proteins
2018
Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) difference absorption spectroscopy is a common method for studying the structural and dynamical aspects behind protein function. In particular, the 2800–1800 cm−1 spectral range has been used to obtain information about internal (deuterated) water molecules, as well as site-specific details about cysteine residues and chemically modified and artificial amino acids. Here, we report on the presence of ghost bands in cryogenic light-induced FT-IR difference spectra of the protein bacteriorhodopsin. The presence of these ghost bands can be particularly problematic in the 2800–1900 cm−1 region, showing intensities similar to O–D vibrations from water molecules…
Flexible multi-beam light-sheet fluorescence microscope for live imaging without striping artifacts
2018
The development of light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) has greatly expanded the experimental capabilities in many biological and biomedical research fields, enabling for example live studies of murine and zebrafish neural activity or of cell growth and division. The key feature of the method is the selective illumination of a sample single plane, providing an intrinsic optical sectioning and allowing direct 2D image recording. On the other hand, this excitation scheme is more affected by absorption or scattering artifacts in comparison to point scanning methods, leading to un-even illumination. We present here an easily implementable method, based on acousto-optical deflectors (AOD),…
Seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Stray Dogs from Southern Italy
2020
Borrelia burgdorferi is a bacterial pathogen transmitted by Ixodes ticks and is responsible for Lyme disease in both humans and dogs. The aim of this work was to evaluate B. burgdorferi diffusion among stray dogs in Palermo (Sicily, Italy) by serological methods in order to study the risk factors associated with the infection. Serum and blood samples of 316 dogs were collected from a shelter in Palermo, and were analyzed for the presence of antibodies against B. burgdorferi by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and of the ospA gene by real-time PCR, respectively. Seventeen sera (5.4%) were positive for the antibodies via IFA and one blood (0.3%) for ospA via real time PCR. On the basi…
Non-invasive stratification of hepatocellular carcinoma risk in non-alcoholic fatty liver using polygenic risk scores
2021
Background & Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk stratification in individuals with dysmetabolism is a major unmet need. Genetic predisposition contributes to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to exploit robust polygenic risk scores (PRS) that can be evaluated in the clinic to gain insight into the causal relationship between NAFLD and HCC, and to improve HCC risk stratification. Methods: We examined at-risk individuals (NAFLD cohort, n = 2,566; 226 with HCC; and a replication cohort of 427 German patients with NAFLD) and the general population (UK Biobank [UKBB] cohort, n = 364,048; 202 with HCC). Variants in PNPLA3-TM6SF2-GCKR-MBOAT7 were combined in a hepatic …
Decreased Time to Treatment Initiation for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Patients after Use of Xpert MTB/RIF Test, Latvia
2016
This test decreased time to treatment initiation by 66%–84%.