Influence of biocontrol strain Pseudomonas fluorescens CHA0 and its antibiotic overproducing derivative on the diversity of root colonizing pseudomonads

Non-target effects of biocontrol strains of Pseudomonas on the population of resident pseudomonads should be assessed prior to their large scale application in the environment. The rifampicin resistant bacterium P. fluorescens CHA0-Rif and its antibiotic overproducing derivative CHA0-Rif/pME3424 were introduced into soil microcosms and the population of resident pseudomonads colonizing cucumber roots was investigated after 10 and 52 days. Both CHA0-Rif and CHA0-Rif/pME3424 displaced a part of the resident pseudomonad population after 10 days. To investigate the population structure, utilization of 10 carbon sources and production of two exoenzymes was assessed for 5600 individual pseudomonad isolates and 1700 isolates were subjected to amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis of the spacer region (spacer-ARDRA). After 10 days, only the proportion of pseudomonads able to degrade -tryptophan was reduced in treatments inoculated with either biocontrol strain. In parallel the phenotypic diversity was reduced. These effects were only observed 10 days after inoculation, and they were similar for inoculation with CHA0-Rif and CHA0-Rif/pME3424. Changes in the population structure of resident pseudomonads on cucumber roots during plant growth were more pronounced than changes due to the inoculants. The inoculants did not affect the genotypic diversity detected with spacer-ARDRA, but the genotypic fingerprints corresponded only partially to the phenotypic profiles. Overall CHA0-Rif had a small and transient impact on the population of resident pseudomonads and the effect was essentially the same for the genetically engineered derivative CHA0-

Glosa super Matthaeum. -- Glosa super Job

Evangelium sancti Matthaei

Active strain and activation models in cardiac electromechanics

We present a model for mechanical activation of the cardiac tissue depending on the evolution of the transmembrane electrical potential and certain gating/ionic variables that are available in most of electrophysiological descriptions of the cardiac membrane. The basic idea consists in adding to the chosen ionic model one ordinary differential equation for the kinetics of the mechanical activation function. A relevant example illustrates the desired properties of the proposed model, such as delayed muscle contraction and correct magnitude of the muscle fibers' shortening.

Altered thymic selection by overexpressing cellular FLICE inhibitory protein in T cells causes lupus-like syndrome in a BALB/c but not C57BL/6 strain.

The cellular FLICE inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) is an endogenous inhibitor of the caspase-8 proapoptotic signaling pathway downstream of death receptors. Recent evidence indicates that the long form of c-FLIP (c-FLIP(L)) is required for proliferation and effector T-cell development. However, the role of c-FLIP(L) in triggering autoimmunity has not been carefully analyzed. We now report that c-FLIP(L) transgenic (Tg) mice develop splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, multiorgan infiltration, high titers of auto-antibodies, and proliferative glomerulonephritis with immune complex deposition in a strain-dependent manner. The development of autoimmunity requires CD4(+) T cells and may result from impaired thymic selection. At the molecular level, c-FLIP(L) overexpression inhibits the zeta chain-associated protein tyrosine kinase of 70 kDa (ZAP-70) activation, thus impairing the signaling pathway derived from ZAP-70 required for thymic selection. Therefore, we have identified c-FLIP(L) as a susceptibility factor under the influence of epistatic modifiers for the development of autoimmunity.

Morales de S. Grégoire sur Job. Latin 12243

Ex-libris : f.232v : « Liber Germano de Pratis pertinet almo. » ; — f.1 : « Sti Germani a Pratis »

Real-time MR imaging of myocardial regional function using strain-encoding (SENC) with tissue through-plane motion tracking.

PURPOSE: To implement real-time myocardial strain-encoding (SENC) imaging in combination with tracking the tissue displacement in the through-plane direction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SENC imaging was combined with the slice-following technique by implementing three-dimensional (3D) selective excitation. Certain adjustments were implemented to reduce scan time to one heartbeat. A total of 10 volunteers and five pigs were scanned on a 3T MRI scanner. Spatial modulation of magnetization (SPAMM)-tagged images were acquired on planes orthogonal to the SENC planes for comparison. Myocardial infarction (MI) was induced in two pigs and the resulting SENC images were compared to standard delayed-enhancement (DE) images. RESULTS: The strain values computed from SENC imaging with slice-following showed significant difference from those acquired without slice-following, especially during systole (P < 0.01). The strain curves computed from the SENC images with and without slice-following were similar to those computed from the orthogonal SPAMM images, with and without, respectively, tracking the tag line displacement in the strain direction. The resulting SENC images showed good agreement with the DE images in identifying MI in infarcted pigs. CONCLUSION: Correction of through-plane motion in real-time cardiac functional imaging is feasible using slice-following. The strain measurements are more accurate than conventional SENC measurements in humans and animals, as validated with conventional MRI tagging.

Smooth transition or permanent exit? Evidence on job prospects of displaced industrial workers

This article examines the job prospects of displaced industrial workers in Switzerland. Based on a survey of 1,203 workers who were dismissed after their manufacturing plants closed down, we analyse the determinants of re-employment, the sector of re-employment and the change in wages. Two years after displacement, a majority of workers were back in employment: 69% were re-employed, 17% un-employed and 11% retired. Amongst re-employed workers, two thirds found a job in manufacturing and one third in services. Contrary to a common belief, low-end services are not the collecting vessel of redundant industrial workers. Displaced workers aged 55 and older seem particularly vulnerable after a plant closes down: over 30% were long-term unemployed, and those older workers who found a new job suffered disproportionate wage losses. Advanced age-and not low education-appears as the primary handicap after mass redundancy.

Job accessibility, employment and job-education mismatch in the metropolitan area of Barcelona

This paper analyses the effect of job accessibility by public and private transport on labour market outcomes in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Beyond employment, we consider the effect of job accessibility on job-education mismatch, which represents a relevant aspect of job quality. We adopt a recursive system of equations that models car availability, employment and mismatch. Public transport accessibility appears as an exogenous variable in the three equations. Even though it may reflect endogenous residential sorting, falsification proofs suggest that the estimated effect of public transport accessibility is not entirely driven by the endogenous nature of residential decisions.

Multi-slice three-dimensional myocardial strain tensor quantification using zHARP.

In this article we propose a novel method for calculating cardiac 3-D strain. The method requires the acquisition of myocardial short-axis (SA) slices only and produces the 3-D strain tensor at every point within every pair of slices. Three-dimensional displacement is calculated from SA slices using zHARP which is then used for calculating the local displacement gradient and thus the local strain tensor. There are three main advantages of this method. First, the 3-D strain tensor is calculated for every pixel without interpolation; this is unprecedented in cardiac MR imaging. Second, this method is fast, in part because there is no need to acquire long-axis (LA) slices. Third, the method is accurate because the 3-D displacement components are acquired simultaneously and therefore reduces motion artifacts without the need for registration. This article presents the theory of computing 3-D strain from two slices using zHARP, the imaging protocol, and both phantom and in-vivo validation.

An active strain electromechanical model for cardiac tissue

We propose a finite element approximation of a system of partial differential equations describing the coupling between the propagation of electrical potential and large deformations of the cardiac tissue. The underlying mathematical model is based on the active strain assumption, in which it is assumed that a multiplicative decomposition of the deformation tensor into a passive and active part holds, the latter carrying the information of the electrical potential propagation and anisotropy of the cardiac tissue into the equations of either incompressible or compressible nonlinear elasticity, governing the mechanical response of the biological material. In addition, by changing from an Eulerian to a Lagrangian configuration, the bidomain or monodomain equations modeling the evolution of the electrical propagation exhibit a nonlinear diffusion term. Piecewise quadratic finite elements are employed to approximate the displacements field, whereas for pressure, electrical potentials and ionic variables are approximated by piecewise linear elements. Various numerical tests performed with a parallel finite element code illustrate that the proposed model can capture some important features of the electromechanical coupling, and show that our numerical scheme is efficient and accurate.

Personality and job stress: a comparison of direct effects on parenting

The impact of personality and job characteristics on parental rearing styles was compared in 353 employees. Hypotheses concerning the relationships between personality and job variables were formulated in accordance with findings in past research and the Belsky’s model (1984). Structural equation nested models showed that Aggression-hostility, Sociability and job Demand were predictive of Rejection and Emotional Warmth parenting styles, providing support for some of the hypothesized relationships. The findings suggest a well-balanced association of personality variables with both parenting styles: Aggression-Hostility was positively related to Rejection and negatively to Emotional Warmth, whereas Sociability was positively related to Emotional Warmth and negatively related to Rejection. Personality dimensions explained a higher amount of variance in observed parenting styles. However, a model that considered both, personality and job dimensions as antecedent variables of parenting was the best representation of observed data, as both systems play a role in the prediction of parenting behavior.