Search results for "methods"
showing 10 items of 4526 documents
Drosophila Food-Associated Pheromones: Effect of Experience, Genotype and Antibiotics on Larval Behavior
2016
International audience; Animals ubiquitously use chemical signals to communicate many aspects of their social life. These chemical signals often consist of environmental cues mixed with species-specific signals-pheromones-emitted by conspecifics. During their life, insects can use pheromones to aggregate, disperse, choose a mate, or find the most suitable food source on which to lay eggs. Before pupariation, larvae of several Drosophila species migrate to food sources depending on their composition and the presence of pheromones. Some pheromones derive from microbiota gut activity and these food-associated cues can enhance larval attraction or repulsion. To explore the mechanisms underlying…
Efficient and reproducible experimental infections of rats with Blastocystis spp.
2018
Although Blastocystis spp. infect probably more than 1 billion people worldwide, their clinical significance is still controversial and their pathophysiology remains poorly understood. In this study, we describe a protocol for an efficient and reproducible model of chronic infection in rats, laying the groundwork for future work to evaluate the pathogenic potential of this parasite. In our experimental conditions, we were unable to infect rats using vacuolar forms of an axenically cultivated ST4 isolate, but we successfully established chronic infections of 4 week-old rats after oral administration of both ST3 and ST4 purified cysts isolated from human stool samples. The infection protocol …
Ferritin and C-reactive protein are predictive biomarkers of mortality and macrophage activation syndrome in adult onset Still's disease. Analysis of…
2020
ObjectiveTo assess the predictive role of ferritin and C-reactive protein (CRP) on occurrence of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and mortality in patients with adult onset Still's disease (AOSD), a rare and severe disease, included in the multicentre Gruppo Italiano di Ricerca in Reumatologia Clinica e Sperimentale (GIRRCS) cohort.MethodsThe predictive role, at the time of diagnosis, of serum levels of ferritin and CRP on occurrence of MAS and mortality, was evaluated by logistic regression analyses and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were built to identify patients at high risk of MAS and mortality, respectively.ResultsIn assessed 147 patients with AOSD, levels of ferri…
Bacteria classification using minimal absent words
2017
Bacteria classification has been deeply investigated with different tools for many purposes, such as early diagnosis, metagenomics, phylogenetics. Classification methods based on ribosomal DNA sequences are considered a reference in this area. We present a new classificatier for bacteria species based on a dissimilarity measure of purely combinatorial nature. This measure is based on the notion of Minimal Absent Words, a combinatorial definition that recently found applications in bioinformatics. We can therefore incorporate this measure into a probabilistic neural network in order to classify bacteria species. Our approach is motivated by the fact that there is a vast literature on the com…
AB0691 INCREASED CARDIOVASCULAR RISK IN MIXED CONNECTIVE TISSUE DISEASE: EVALUATION OF MACROVASCULAR INVOLVEMENT AND ITS PREDICTORS BY AORTIC PULSE W…
2019
Background: Macrovascular involvement and cardiovascular (CV) risk have not been sufficiently studied in patients with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). In particular, the gold standard assessment method of aortic stiffness carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) (1) has never been evaluated in patients with this disease. Objectives: Aims of the present study were to examine cfPWV in MCTD and to evaluate its associations with MCTD associated parameters and traditional CV risk factors. Methods: cfPWV measurements were performed in 43 MCTD patients and 107 healthy controls. The difference between cfPWV in the two groups was statistically examined and subsequently controlled for the …
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Traditional Chinese Medicine
2021
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a well-established medical system with a long history. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding in many fields including TCM. AI will significantly improve the reliability and accuracy of diagnostics, thus increasing the use of effective therapeutic methods for patients. This systematic review provides an updated overview on the major breakthroughs in the field of AI-assisted TCM four diagnostic methods, syndrome differentiation, and treatment. AI-assisted TCM diagnosis is mainly based on digital data collected by modern electronic instruments, which makes TCM diagnosis more quantitative, objective, and standardized. As a result, th…
Selenomethionine labeling of large biological macromolecular complexes: probing the structure of marine bacterial virus PM2.
2008
There is a need for improved tools for labeling protein species within large macromolecular assemblies. Here we describe a method for the efficient selenomethionine labeling of the membrane-containing bacterial virus PM2 for structural studies. By examining potential host cells a strain was found which was auxotrophic for methionine, and by performing a multiparameter search of conditions it was possible to derive a robust protocol which simultaneously minimized the toxic effects of the selenomethionine, so that a reasonable virus yield was maintained, whilst still achieving essentially complete labeling. This has allowed us to fingerprint the protein constituents of the virus in a relative…
MAGA: A Supervised Method to Detect Motifs From Annotated Groups in Alignments
2020
Multiple sequence alignments are usually phylogenetically driven. They are studied in the framework of evolution. But sometimes, it is interesting to study residue conservation at positions unconstrained by evolutionary rules. We present a supervised method to access a layer of information difficult to appreciate visually when many protein sequences are aligned. This new tool (MAGA; http://cbdm-01.zdv.uni-mainz.de/~munoz/maga/ ) locates positions in multiple sequence alignments differentially conserved in manually defined groups of sequences.
Role of biological control agents and physical treatments in maintaining the quality of fresh and minimally-processed fruit and vegetables
2019
International audience; Fruit and vegetables are an important part of human diets and provide multiple health benefits. However, due to the short shelf-life of fresh and minimally-processed fruit and vegetables, significant losses occur throughout the food distribution chain. Shelf-life extension requires preserving both the quality and safety of food products. The quality of fruit and vegetables, either fresh or fresh-cut, depends on many factors and can be determined by analytical or sensory evaluation methods. Among the various technologies used to maintain the quality and increase shelf-life of fresh and minimally-processed fruit and vegetables, biological control is a promising approac…
Standardized on-road tests assessing fitness-to-drive in people with cognitive impairments: A systematic review.
2020
Objective The on-road assessment is the gold standard because of its ecological validity. Yet existing instruments are heterogeneous and little is known about their psychometric properties. This study identified existing on-road assessment instruments and extracted data on psychometric properties and usability in clinical settings. Method A systematic review identified studies evaluating standardized on-road evaluation instruments adapted for people with cognitive impairment. Published articles were searched on PubMed, CINHAL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. Study quality and the level of evidence were assessed using the COSMIN checklist. The collected data were synthetized usi…