Effect of sterilization on the canine vaginal microbiota: a pilot study

Abstract Background Surgical sterilization is the most effective method of contraception for dogs. It also prevents pyometra and reduces the risk of mammary tumour development. However, this procedure also has negative effects, such as urinary incontinence. Steroid hormone deprivation following gonadectomy could also affect canine vaginal mucosa conditions and the microbial community colonizing the vaginal tract. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the vaginal cytology and microbial community of two groups of bitches, including 11 in anoestrus and 10 sterilized bitches (post-pubertal sterilization in the last 4 years). Bacteria were identified through metataxonomic analysis, amplifying the V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene, and culturing methods. Results Vaginal mucosa cytology was suggestive of dystrophic conditions in sterilized bitches, whereas a typical anoestrus pattern with parabasal and intermediate cells was appreciable in anoestrous animals. Metataxonomic analysis revealed large inter-individual variability. Salmonella, Mycoplasma and Staphylococcus were present in moderate quantities in almost all the samples in both groups. Mollicutes (class level) and Tenericutes (phylum level) were commonly present in moderate quantities in anoestrus samples, whereas these microbes were present at high levels in a single sample from the sterilized group. Based on culturing, a higher number of different species were isolated from the anoestrous bitches, and Mycoplasma canis was exclusively identified in an anoestrous bitch. Staphylococcus spp. was the most frequently isolated genus in both groups, followed by Streptococcus spp., and, among gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia spp. and Haemophilus spp. A comparison of the numbers of the most frequently isolated genera of bacteria from vaginal cultures of bitches revealed that Pasteurella and Proteus were the most frequently identified in sterilized animals based on metataxonomic analysis (p-value = 0.0497 and 0.0382, respectively), whereas Streptococcus was significantly and most frequently isolated from anoestrous bitches using culture methods (p value = 0.0436). Conclusions In this preliminary investigation, no global patterns of the vaginal bacteria community were noted that characterized the condition of the bitches; however, cytology suggested local modifications. Sterilization after puberty caused minimal alterations in the vaginal microbial community of bitches within 4 years after surgery.

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Diploma Democracy

10.1093/oso/9780198790631.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Mark Bovens ◽

Anchrit Wille

Keyword(s):

Political Parties ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Western Europe ◽

Educational Background ◽

University Graduates ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Organized Interests ◽

Political Office ◽

Political Meritocracy ◽

Almost All

Lay politics lies at the heart of democracy. Political offices are the only offices for which no formal qualifications are required. Contemporary political practices are diametrically opposed to this constitutional ideal. Most contemporary democracies in Western Europe are diploma democracies—ruled by those with the highest formal qualifications. Citizens with low or medium educational qualification levels currently make up about 70 per cent of the electorates, yet they have become virtually absent from almost all political arenas. University graduates have come to dominate all relevant political institutions and venues, from political parties, parliaments and cabinets, to organized interests, deliberative settings, and internet consultations. This rise of a political meritocracy is part of larger trend. In the information society, educational background, like class, or religion, is an important source of social and political divides. Those who are well educated tend to be cosmopolitans, whereas the lesser educated citizens are more likely to be nationalists. This book documents the context, contours, and consequences of this rise of a political meritocracy. It explores the domination of higher educated citizens in political participation, civil society, and political office in Western Europe. It discusses the consequences of this rise of political meritocracy, such as descriptive deficits, policy incongruences, biased standards, and cynicism and distrust. Also, it looks at ways to remedy, or at least mitigate, some of the negative effects of diploma democracy.

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Application of Hyperspectral Imaging in the Assessment of Drought and Salt Stress in Magneto-Primed Triticale Seeds

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10050835 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 835

Author(s):

Jose Alvarez ◽

Elvira Martinez ◽

Belén Diezma

Keyword(s):

Salt Stress ◽

Hyperspectral Imaging ◽

Human Observer ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Stress Symptoms ◽

Data Variability ◽

Drought And Salt Stress ◽

The One ◽

Almost All ◽

Germination Parameters

Hyperspectral imaging is an appropriate method to thoroughly investigate the microscopic structure of internally heterogeneous agro-food products. By using hyperspectral technology, identifying stress symptoms associated with salinity, before a human observer, is possible, and has obvious benefits. The objective of this paper was to prove the suitability of this technique for the analysis of Triticale seeds subjected to both magneto-priming and drought and salt stress conditions, in terms of image differences obtained among treatments. It is known that, on the one hand, drought and salt stress treatments have negative effects on seeds of almost all species, and on the other hand, magneto-priming enhances seed germination parameters. Thus, this study aimed to relate hyperspectral imaging values—neither positive nor negative in themselves—to the effects mentioned above. Two main conclusions were reached: Firstly, the hyperspectral application is a feasible method for exploring the Triticale structure and for making distinctions under different drought and salt stress treatments, in line with the data variability obtained. Secondly, the lower spectral reflectance in some treatments—in the 400–1000 nm segment—is the result of a great number of chemical compounds in the seed that could be related to magneto-priming.

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Multi-domain probiotic consortium as an alternative to chemical remediation of oil spills at coral reefs and adjacent sites

Microbiome ◽

10.1186/s40168-021-01041-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Denise P. Silva ◽

Helena D. M. Villela ◽

Henrique F. Santos ◽

Gustavo A. S. Duarte ◽

José Roberto Ribeiro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Community ◽

Coral Reefs ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Oil Contamination ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Corexit 9500 ◽

Coral Health ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Beginning in the last century, coral reefs have suffered the consequences of anthropogenic activities, including oil contamination. Chemical remediation methods, such as dispersants, can cause substantial harm to corals and reduce their resilience to stressors. To evaluate the impacts of oil contamination and find potential alternative solutions to chemical dispersants, we conducted a mesocosm experiment with the fire coral Millepora alcicornis, which is sensitive to environmental changes. We exposed M. alcicornis to a realistic oil-spill scenario in which we applied an innovative multi-domain bioremediator consortium (bacteria, filamentous fungi, and yeast) and a chemical dispersant (Corexit® 9500, one of the most widely used dispersants), to assess the effects on host health and host-associated microbial communities. Results The selected multi-domain microbial consortium helped to mitigate the impacts of the oil, substantially degrading the polycyclic aromatic and n-alkane fractions and maintaining the physiological integrity of the corals. Exposure to Corexit 9500 negatively impacted the host physiology and altered the coral-associated microbial community. After exposure, the abundances of certain bacterial genera such as Rugeria and Roseovarius increased, as previously reported in stressed or diseased corals. We also identified several bioindicators of Corexit 9500 in the microbiome. The impact of Corexit 9500 on the coral health and microbial community was far greater than oil alone, killing corals after only 4 days of exposure in the flow-through system. In the treatments with Corexit 9500, the action of the bioremediator consortium could not be observed directly because of the extreme toxicity of the dispersant to M. alcicornis and its associated microbiome. Conclusions Our results emphasize the importance of investigating the host-associated microbiome in order to detect and mitigate the effects of oil contamination on corals and the potential role of microbial mitigation and bioindicators as conservation tools. Chemical dispersants were far more damaging to corals and their associated microbiome than oil, and should not be used close to coral reefs. This study can aid in decision-making to minimize the negative effects of oil and dispersants on coral reefs.

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Advances in biotechnology of Emblica officinalis Gaertn. syn. Phyllanthus emblica L.: a nutraceuticals-rich fruit tree with multifaceted ethnomedicinal uses

3 Biotech ◽

10.1007/s13205-020-02615-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Saikat Gantait ◽

Manisha Mahanta ◽

Soumen Bera ◽

Sandeep Kumar Verma

Keyword(s):

Secondary Metabolites ◽

Fruit Tree ◽

Root Bark ◽

Phyllanthus Emblica ◽

Emblica Officinalis ◽

Culture Methods ◽

Indirect Organogenesis ◽

Medicinal Tree ◽

Almost All

AbstractEmblica officinalis Gaertn. syn. Phyllanthus emblica L., universally known as ‘Amla’ or ‘Aonla’ or ‘Indian gooseberry’, is a popular fruit tree belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae and order Geraniales. It is said to be the very first tree that originated on earth, as claimed by age-old Indian mythology. Almost all parts of the tree i.e., root, bark, leaf, flower, fruit and seed are utilized in Ayurvedic and Unani medicinal formulations to improve the overall digestive process, decrease fever, act as a blood purifier, relieve asthma and cough, improve heart health, etc. This tree contains major secondary metabolites like emblicanin-A and emblicanin-B, and also is an affluent source of vitamin-C. Additionally, some other secondary metabolites like tannins, gallic acid, pyrogallol, and pectin are also present in significant amounts. Conventional propagation has been improved via suitable interventions of agrotechnology both in production and protection areas. However, the rate of propagation remains slower; therefore, attempts have been made for biotechnological advancements on E. officinalis. The present review makes an attempt to highlight the botanical description, geographical distribution, ethnopharmacological importance, conventional propagation and protection of this medicinal tree, describing the in vitro-based plant organ and tissue culture methods like direct and indirect organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis along with interventions of molecular marker-based biotechnology and nanotechnology. Further, the prospect of the yet-to-be-explored biotechnological methods for secondary metabolite enhancement like cell suspension, protoplast culture, genetic transformation, etc. and their potential for enhanced emblicanin production have also been discussed in this appraisal.

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Advertisements for Medicines in Leading Medical Journals in 18 Countries: A 12-Month Survey of Information Content and Standards

International Journal of Health Services ◽

10.2190/1ak2-x8cx-qq9e-f6ed ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 161-172 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Andrew Herxheimer ◽

Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg ◽

Barbro Westerholm

Keyword(s):

Information Content ◽

Medical Information ◽

Industrialized Countries ◽

Brand Name ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Medical Journals ◽

National Medical ◽

Ethical Criteria ◽

Almost All ◽

Medicinal Drug

The information content of 6,710 advertisements for medicines in medical journals was surveyed to provide a baseline for monitoring the effect of WHO's Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion. The advertisements (ads) appeared during 12 months (1987–1988) in 23 leading national medical journals in 18 countries. Local participants, mostly doctors or pharmacists, examined them. The presence or absence in each ad of important information was noted. In most ads the generic name appeared in smaller type than the brand name. Indications were mentioned more often than the negative effects of medicines. The ads gave less pharmacological than medical information. However, important warnings and precautions were missing in half, and side effects and contraindications in about 40 percent. Prices tended to be given only in countries where a social security system pays for the medicines. The information content of ads in the developing countries differed surprisingly little from that in the industrialized countries. Almost all the ads (96 percent) included one or more pictures; 58 percent of these were considered irrelevant. The authors believe it is a mistake to regard ads as trivial. If they are not considered seriously they will influence the use of medicines as they are intended to do, but read critically they can provide useful information.

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Phylum-Specific Primer Design and Implication in Quantification of the Microbial Community Structure in GuJingGong Pit Mud

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.1051.311 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1051 ◽

pp. 311-316 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Xi Mei Luo ◽

Zhi Lei Gao ◽

Hui Min Zhang ◽

An Jun Li ◽

Hong Kui He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Microbial Community ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Microbial Community Structure ◽

Real Time Quantitative Pcr ◽

Sequencing Technologies ◽

Specific Pcr ◽

Pit Mud ◽

Almost All ◽

Polymerase Chain Reaction Primers

In recent years, despite the significant improvement of sequencing technologies such as the pyrosequencing, rapid evaluation of microbial community structures remains very difficult because of the abundance and complexity of organisms in almost all natural microbial communities. In this paper, a group of phylum-specific primers were elaborately designed based on a single nucleotide discrimination technology to quantify the main microbial community structure from GuJingGong pit mud samples using the real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Specific PCR (polymerase chain reaction) primers targeting a particular group would provide promising sensitivity and more in-depth assessment of microbial communities.

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A semi-dominant mutation in OsCESA9 improves biomass enzymatic digestibility and salt tolerance by relatively remodeling cell walls in rice

10.21203/rs.3.rs-63488/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yafeng Ye ◽

Shuoxun Wang ◽

Kun Wu ◽

Yan Ren ◽

Hongrui Jiang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salt Tolerance ◽

Plant Growth ◽

Rice Straw ◽

Enzymatic Saccharification ◽

Cellulose Content ◽

Normal Plant ◽

Wild Type ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Straw Return ◽

Almost All

Abstract Background: Cellulose synthase (CESA) mutants have potential use in straw processing due to their lower cellulose content, but almost all of the mutants exhibit defective phenotypes in plant growth and development. Balancing normal plant growth with reduced cellulose content remains a challenge, as cellulose content and normal plant growth are typically negatively correlated with one another. Result: Here, the rice (Oryza sativa) semi-dominant brittle culm (sdbc) mutant Sdbc1, which harbors a substitution (D387N) at the first conserved aspartic acid residue of OsCESA9, exhibits lower cellulose content and reduced secondary wall thickness as well as enhanced biomass enzymatic saccharification compared with the wild type (WT). Further experiments indicated that the OsCESA9D387N mutation may compete with the wild-type OsCESA9 for interacting with OsCESA4 and OsCESA7, further forming non-functional or partially functional CSCs. The OsCESA9/OsCESA9D387N heterozygous plants increase salt tolerance through scavenging and detoxification of ROS and indirectly affecting related gene expression. They also improve rice straw return to the field due to their brittle culms and lower cellulose content without any negative effects in grain yield and lodging. Conclusion: Hence, manipulation of OsCESA9D387N can provide the perspective of the rice straw for biofuels and bioproducts due to its improved enzymatic saccharification.

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Religion, Moral and Modernisation of Urban Society: A Study on the Roles of Religion in Youth Development in Lampung, Republic of Indonesia

Asian Social Science and Humanities Research Journal (ASHREJ) ◽

10.37698/ashrej.v2i2.47 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 109-116

Author(s):

Suhandi ◽

Azhar Jaafar

Keyword(s):

Youth Development ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Reduction Process ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Process Data ◽

The People ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Multi Access ◽

Almost All ◽

Role Of Religion

Modernisation is the consequence of the demands of the development that brings negative impacts to the society. It is undeniable that modernization also brings abundance of positive impacts that ease the life of people and that modernization and humanization cannot be separated. In this context, the youth are considered as unstable being, who easily being controlled by multi-access communication technology; from social, fashion, behaviour, lifestyle, and ideology. Almost all of the damaging sides of technology affect the youth. Religion as the spiritual agent has a major role in combating this change in the society. Religion can act as the social control to hinder from immoral behaviour and worthless actions among the society. The main issue in the current study is to investigate the role of religion in strengthening the moral among the teenagers. This research was conducted by using qualitative method. Data were collected through observation, interview and documentation. The participants of this research were the people of the rural areas in Bandar Lampung. After data collection was carried out, the data were processed qualitatively using the data reduction process, data exposure, and data verification. To conclude, the existence of the negative effects of modernization resulted from lack of religious virtues and parents’ control over their children’s social behaviour.

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Fiscal, Investment and Export Multipliers and the COVID-19 Pandemic Slowdowns Uncertainty Factor in the First Half of 2020

Risks ◽

10.3390/risks8040122 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 122 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Arkadiusz J. Derkacz

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Gross Domestic Product ◽

Domestic Product ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Uncertainty Factor ◽

The World ◽

European Union Countries ◽

The Individual ◽

Almost All ◽

Fiscal Investment

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant slowdown in the development of almost all economies in the world. In this context, the main goal of this research is to try to present changes in the value of fiscal, investment and export multipliers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted in selected European Union countries. They are France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. This research is based on the theory of effective demand. The values of feeds and leakages of total demand in the period from 2015 to 2020 were examined and calculated. On this basis, the individual multipliers of autonomous spending were analyzed and their changes in the first period of the COVID-19 pandemic were presented. The analyses led to a surprising conclusion: it found that the autonomous spending multipliers in some economies increased. This means that they have become ‘security buffers’ for the health of economies. This means that the increase in their value weakened the negative effects of changes in autonomous expenditure on gross domestic product.

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The Treatment of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in International Investment Law

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198795650.003.0010 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Joachim Karl

Keyword(s):

Great Majority ◽

International Investment ◽

Negative Effects ◽

International Investment Law ◽

International Investment Agreements ◽

Internationalization Strategies ◽

Investment Law ◽

Almost All ◽

Investment Agreements

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of almost all economies, employing the great majority of the workforce, and making the biggest contribution to GDP. To some extent, they are also active as outward foreign investors or are linked to inward foreign investment through supply chains. This chapter analyses the role of international investment law for the internationalization strategies of SMEs. It explores to what extent international investment agreements specifically promote, facilitate, and protect investments involving SMEs, referring to concrete treaty examples. It also examines the risk of potential negative effects of certain IIA provisions on domestic SMEs. On the basis of this analysis, the chapter makes a number of suggestions regarding how international investment law could further improve the situation of SMEs.

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