scholarly journals Co-cultivation is a powerful approach to produce a robust functionally designed synthetic consortium as a live biotherapeutic product (LBP)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabienne Kurt ◽  
Gabriel E Leventhal ◽  
Marianne R. Spalinger ◽  
Laura Anthamatten ◽  
Philipp Rogalla von Bieberstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fecal Microbiota ◽  
Microbial Consortia ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Powerful Approach ◽  
Carbohydrate Fermentation ◽  
The Many ◽  
Powerful Strategy ◽  
Selection Of

The successes of fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) have provided the necessary proof-of-concept for microbiome therapeutics. Because of the many risks and uncertainties associated with feces-based therapies, defined microbial consortia that modify the microbiome in a targeted manner have emerged as a promising safer alternative to FMT. The development of such live biotherapeutic products has important challenges, including the selection of appropriate strains and the production of the consortia at scale. Here, we report on an ecology and biotechnology-based approach to microbial consortium design that overcomes these issues. We designed a nine-strain consortium that emulates the central metabolic pathways of carbohydrate fermentation in the healthy human gut microbiota. We show that continuous co-culturing the bacteria produce a stable consortium whose activity is distinct from an equivalent mix of individually cultured strains. Further, we showed that our function-based consortium is as effective as FMT in counteracting dysbiosis in a dextran sodium sulfate mouse model of acute colitis. We propose that combining a bottom-up functional design with continuous co-cultivation is a powerful strategy to produce robust, functionally designed synthetic consortia for therapeutic use.

Costumes and Choreography from Bodenwieser's Trunk: The Coat as Affective Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Rachel Fensham
Keyword(s):  
Modern Dance ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Creative Thought ◽  
Cain And Abel ◽  
Embodied Research ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Selection Of

The Viennese modern choreographer Gertrud Bodenwieser's black coat leads to an analysis of her choreography in four main phases – the early European career; the rise of Nazism; war's brutality; and postwar attempts at reconciliation. Utilising archival and embodied research, the article focuses on a selection of Bodenwieser costumes that survived her journey from Vienna, or were remade in Australia, and their role in the dramaturgy of works such as Swinging Bells (1926), The Masks of Lucifer (1936, 1944), Cain and Abel (1940) and The One and the Many (1946). In addition to dance history, costume studies provides a distinctive way to engage with the question of what remains of performance, and what survives of the historical conditions and experience of modern dance-drama. Throughout, Hannah Arendt's book The Human Condition (1958) provides a critical guide to the acts of reconstruction undertaken by Bodenwieser as an émigré choreographer in the practice of her craft, and its ‘materializing reification’ of creative thought. As a study in affective memory, information regarding Bodenwieser's personal life becomes interwoven with the author's response to the material evidence of costumes, oral histories and documents located in various Australian archives. By resurrecting the ‘dead letters’ of this choreography, the article therefore considers how dance costumes offer the trace of an artistic resistance to totalitarianism.

Precursors to Public Choice

2019 ◽  
pp. 796-816
Author(s):  
Iain McLean
Keyword(s):  
Public Choice ◽  
Social Choice ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Social Choice Theory ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mathematical Skill ◽  
The Many ◽  
Selection Of

This chapter reviews the many appearances, disappearances, and reappearances of axiomatic thought about social choice and elections since the era of ancient Greek democracy. Social choice is linked to the wider public-choice movement because both are theories of agency. Thus, just as the first public-choice theorists include Hobbes, Hume, and Madison, so the first social-choice theorists include Pliny, Llull, and Cusanus. The social-choice theory of agency appears in many strands. The most important of these are binary vs. nonbinary choice; aggregation of judgement vs. aggregation of opinion; and selection of one person vs. selection of many people. The development of social choice required both a public-choice mindset and mathematical skill.

Evidence-based Assessment

2010 ◽  
pp. 76-98
Author(s):  
John Hunsley ◽  
Eric J. Mash
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Assessment ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
The Past ◽  
Specific Assessment ◽  
The Many ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Made In

Evidence-based assessment relies on research and theory to inform the selection of constructs to be assessed for a specific assessment purpose, the methods and measures to be used in the assessment, and the manner in which the assessment process unfolds. An evidence-based approach to clinical assessment necessitates the recognition that, even when evidence-based instruments are used, the assessment process is a decision-making task in which hypotheses must be iteratively formulated and tested. In this chapter, we review (a) the progress that has been made in developing an evidence-based approach to clinical assessment in the past decade and (b) the many challenges that lie ahead if clinical assessment is to be truly evidence-based.

scholarly journals Is There a Brain Microbiome?

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 263310552110187
Author(s):  
Christopher D Link
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Strong Motivation ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Brain

Numerous studies have identified microbial sequences or epitopes in pathological and non-pathological human brain samples. It has not been resolved if these observations are artifactual, or truly represent population of the brain by microbes. Given the tempting speculation that resident microbes could play a role in the many neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases that currently lack clear etiologies, there is a strong motivation to determine the “ground truth” of microbial existence in living brains. Here I argue that the evidence for the presence of microbes in diseased brains is quite strong, but a compelling demonstration of resident microbes in the healthy human brain remains to be done. Dedicated animal models studies may be required to determine if there is indeed a “brain microbiome.”

Direct cloning of genes encoding novel xylanases from the human gut

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidenori Hayashi ◽  
Takashi Abe ◽  
Mitsuo Sakamoto ◽  
Hiroki Ohara ◽  
Toshimichi Ikemura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intestinal Bacteria ◽  
Fecal Microbiota ◽  
Coli Strain ◽  
Amino Acid Sequences ◽  
Self Organizing Map ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Ph Range ◽  
Self Organizing

The aim of this study was to identify a novel 1,4-β-xylanase gene from the mixed genome DNA of human fecal bacteria without bacterial cultivation. Total DNA was isolated from a population of bacteria extracted from fecal microbiota. Using PCR, the gene fragments encoding 5 different family 10 xylanases (xyn10A, xyn10B, xyn10C, xyn10D, and xyn10E) were found. Amino acid sequences deduced from these genes were highly homologous with those of xylanases from anaerobic intestinal bacteria such as Bacteroides spp. and Prevotella spp. Self-organizing map (SOM) analysis revealed that xynA10 was classified into Bacteroidetes. To confirm that one of these genes encodes an active enzyme, a full-length xyn10A gene was obtained using nested primers specific to the internal fragments and random primers. The xyn10A gene encoding the xylanase Xyn10A consists of 1146 bp and encodes a protein of 382 amino acids and a molecular weight of 43 552. Xyn10A was a single module novel xylanase. Xyn10A was purified from a recombinant Escherichia coli strain and characterized. This enzyme was optimally active at 40 °C and stable up to 50 °C at pH 6.5 and over the pH range 4.0–11.0 at 25 °C. In addition, 2 ORFs (ORF1 and ORF2) were identified upstream of xyn10A. These results suggested that many unidentified xylanolytic bacteria exist in the human gut and may contribute to the breakdown of xylan which contains dietary fiber.Key words: xylanase, human gut, fecal microbiota, phylogenetic analysis, self-organizing map.

Controlled photo-discharge of dust in a complex plasma

2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael McKinlay ◽  
Edward Thomas
Keyword(s):  
High Intensity ◽  
Dusty Plasmas ◽  
Lanthanum Hexaboride ◽  
Magnetized Plasma ◽  
Background Plasma ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Langmuir Probes ◽  
Complex Plasma ◽  
Dust Charge ◽  
Selection Of

One of the limitations in studying dusty plasmas is that many of the important properties of the dust (like the charge) are directly coupled to the surrounding plasma conditions rather than being determined independently. The application of high-intensity ultraviolet (UV) sources to generate discharging photoelectric currents may provide an avenue for developing methods of controlling dust charge. Careful selection of the parameters of the UV source and dust material may even allow for this to be accomplished with minimal perturbation of the background plasma. The Auburn Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL) has developed a ‘proof-of-concept’ experiment for this controlled photo-discharging of dust; a high-intensity, near-UV source was used to produce large changes in the equilibrium positions of lanthanum hexaboride ( $\textrm {LaB}_6$ ) particles suspended in an argon DC glow discharge with negligible changes in the potential, density and temperature profiles of the background plasma. The shifts in equilibrium position of the dust are consistent with a reduction in dust charge. Video analysis is used to quantify the changes in position, velocity and acceleration of a test particle under the influence of the UV and Langmuir probes are used to measure the effects on the plasma.

Le fonti, i metodi e le narrazioni della storia della videoarte in Italia negli anni Settanta

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Parola
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Video Art ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Selection For ◽  
The Many ◽  
Art And Architecture ◽  
Selection Of

This essay derives from the primary need to make order between direct and indirect sources available for the reconstruction of the history of video art in Italy in the seventies. In fact, during the researches for the Ph.D. thesis it became clear that in most cases it is difficult to define, in terms of facts, which of the different historiographies should be taken into consideration to deepen the study of video art in Italy. Beyond legitimate differences of perspectives and methods, historiographical narratives all share similar issues and narrative structure. The first intention of the essay is, therefore, to compare the different historiographic narratives on Italian video art of the seventies, verifying their genealogy, the sources used and the accuracy of the narrated facts. For the selection of the corpus, it was decided to analyze in particular monographic volumes dealing with the history of the origins of video art in Italy. The aim was, in fact, to get a wide range of types of "narrations", as in the case of contemporary art and architecture magazines, which are examined in the second part of the essay. After the selection, for an analytical and comparative study of the various historiography, the essay focuses only on the Terza Biennale Internazionale della Giovane Pittura. Gennaio ’70. Comportamenti, oggetti e mediazioni (Third International Biennial of Young Painting. January '70. Behaviors, Objects and Mediations, 1970, Bologna), the exhibition which - after Lucio Fontana's pioneering experiments - is said to be the first sign of the arrival of videotape in Italy (called at the time videorecording), curated by Renato Barilli, Tommaso Trini, Andrea Emiliani and Maurizio Calvesi. The narration given so far of this exhibition appeared more mythological than historical and could be compared structurally to that of the many numerous beginnings that historiographyies on international video art identify as ‘first’ and ‘generative’. In the first part of the essay the 'facts' related to Gennaio ’70, as narrated by historiography on video art, are compared. In the second part the survey is carried out through some of the direct sources identified during the research, with the aim of answering to questions raised by the comparison between historiographies. Concluding, it is important to underline that the tapes containing the videos transmitted have not been found and seem to have disappeared since the ending of the exhibition. Nevertheless, the deepening of the works and documentation transmitted during the exhibition is possible thanks to other types of sources which give us many valuable information regarding video techniques and practices at the beginning of 1970 in Italy.

WEIGHT GAINS IN THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF INFANCY: A COMPARISON OF THREE DIETS

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-368
Author(s):  
Ruth T. Gross ◽  
Lincoln E. Moses
Keyword(s):  
Human Milk ◽  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Full Term ◽  
Clinical Judgement ◽  
Careful Selection ◽  
Term Infants ◽  
Weight Gains ◽  
The Many ◽  
Selection Of

Four hundred seven healthy, full-term infants were divided into three groups and fed, respectively, a formula of evaporated milk and water with 5% carbohydrate; human milk; and a special modified evaporated milk designed to simulate human milk. No other foods were added to the diet. A comparison of the three groups was made, based on weight gains from birth to the end of the first 4 weeks. The conclusions refer only to weight gains; no attempt was made to determine the superiority of any particular diet. The data show no significant differences in the 4-week weight gains among the three groups of infants, although sensitive statistical methods could be validly applied to the problem. These methods are explained. The authors wish to emphasize the many variables which must be taken into account in a study of this sort; the necessity for careful selection of valid statistical methods; the importance of critical clinical judgement in the evaluation of the results.

A Study on Statistical Analysis of Si-Wafer Polishing Process for the Optimum Polishing Condition

2008 ◽  
Vol 389-390 ◽  
pp. 493-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung Chul Hwang ◽  
Jong Koo Won ◽  
Jung Taik Lee ◽  
Eun Sang Lee
Keyword(s):  
Surface Roughness ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Process Parameters ◽  
Wafer Surface ◽  
Wafer Polishing ◽  
Ultra Precision ◽  
Important Processing ◽  
The Many ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Si Wafer

As the level of Si-wafer surface directly affects device line-width capability, process latitude, yield, and throughput in fabrication of microchips, it needs to have ultra precision surface and flatness. Polishing is one of the important processing having influence on the surface roughness in manufacturing of Si-wafers. The surface roughness in wafer polishing is mainly affected by the many process parameters. For decreasing the surface roughness, the control of polishing parameters is very important. In this paper, the optimum condition selection of ultra precision wafer polishing and the effect of polishing parameters on the surface roughness were evaluated by the statistical analysis of the process parameters.

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