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Interesting Differences (interesting + difference)
Selected AbstractsGenotypic and technological characterization of Lactococcus lactis isolates involved in processing of artisanal Manchego cheeseJOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2009P. Nieto-Arribas Abstract Aims:, Genotypic and technological characterization of wild lactococci isolated from artisanal Manchego cheese during the ripening process for selection of suitable starter cultures. Methods and Results:, A total of 114 isolates of lactococci were typed using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR). Sixteen distinct RAPD-PCR patterns, at a similarity level of 73%, were obtained. On the basis of species-specific PCR reaction, the isolates were assigned to the species Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris with L. lactis subsp. lactis being predominant at both dairies. Twenty-six isolates were technologically characterized to select those with the best properties. Most of them showed good technological properties although some could produce tyramine. Conclusions:, The presence of coincident genotypes at both dairies has been demonstrated, which would suggest that they are well adapted to the Manchego cheese environment. Interesting differences were found in the technological characterization and the potential role of autochthonous lactococci strains as starter culture has been displayed. Significance and Impact of the Study:, The great economic importance of Manchego cheese encouraged a deeper knowledge of its microbiota, to select strains with the best properties to use as starter cultures in industrial Manchego cheeses, preserving the autochthonous characteristics. [source] Interesting differences between the protonated and sodium adducts of pentacoordinated bisaminoacylspirophosphoranes in electrospray ionization mass spectrometryJOURNAL OF MASS SPECTROMETRY (INCORP BIOLOGICAL MASS SPECTROMETRY), Issue 2 2003Zhao Liu [source] Fiscal forecasting: The track record of the IMF, OECD and ECTHE ECONOMETRICS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2001Michael Artis We analyse the relative performance of the IMF, OECD and EC in forecasting the government deficit, as a ratio to GDP, for the G7 countries. Interesting differences across countries emerge, sometimes supporting the hypothesis of an asymmetric loss function (i.e. of a preference for underprediction or overprediction), and potential benefits from forecast pooling. [source] Exploring the performance of massively multithreaded architecturesCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 5 2010Shahid Bokhari Abstract We present a new scheme for evaluating the performance of multithreaded computers and demonstrate its application to the Cray MTA-2 and XMT supercomputers. Our scheme is based on the concept of clock cycles per element, , plotted against both problem size and the number of processors. This scheme clearly shows if an implementation has achieved its asymptotic efficiency and is more general than (but includes) the commonly used speedup metric. It permits the discovery of any imperfections in both the software as well as the hardware, and is expected to permit a unified comparison of many different parallel architectures. Measurements on a number of well-known parallel algorithms, ranging from matrix multiply to quicksort, are presented for the MTA-2 and XMT and highlight some interesting differences between these machines. The performance of sequence alignment using dynamic programming is evaluated on the MTA-2, XMT, IBM x3755 and SGI Altix 350 and provides a useful comparison of the capabilities of the Cray machines with more conventional shared memory architectures. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] K+ fluxes in Schizosaccharomyces pombeFEMS YEAST RESEARCH, Issue 1 2003Fernando Calero Abstract All living cells accumulate high concentrations of K+ in order to keep themselves alive. To this end they have developed a great diversity of transporters. The internal level of K+ is the result of the net balance between the activities of the K+ influx and the K+ efflux transporters. Potassium fluxes have been extensively studied and characterized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, this is not the case in the fission yeast and, in addition, the information available indicates that both yeasts present substantial and interesting differences. In this paper we have reviewed and summarized the information on K+ fluxes in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We have included some unpublished results recently obtained in our laboratory and, in particular, we have highlighted the significant differences found between the well-known yeast S. cerevisiae and the fission yeast Sch. pombe. [source] An Initial Analysis of River Discharge and Rainfall in Coastal New South Wales, Australia Using Wavelet TransformsGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2001H. Kirkup In many coastal catchments of south eastern New South Wales, Australia, changes in river morphology are a response to human impact superimposed on spatial and temporal patterns of variability in precipitation and discharge. Understanding, and preferably quantifying, spatial and temporal patterns of hydrologic variability are essential to understanding natural changes, and to separate these from artificial changes in river systems. Prediction and management of water resources are also dependent upon this understanding. We assess the variability in precipitation and discharge using the wavelet transform which projects the time series of data into a three dimensional surface of frequency, amplitude and time. The analysis reveals that changes across time often reflect changes in individual seasons and may be linked to changes in particular seasonal atmospheric circulation systems. Strong perturbations in the analysis of one catchment are consistent with documented, geomorphically-effective, flooding sequences. The characteristics of the series in the transformed data reveal interesting differences at certain times and scales which may be a reflection of changes in larger scale atmospheric processes. [source] Feature-space clustering for fMRI meta-analysis,HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 3 2001Cyril Goutte Abstract Clustering functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) time series has emerged in recent years as a possible alternative to parametric modeling approaches. Most of the work so far has been concerned with clustering raw time series. In this contribution we investigate the applicability of a clustering method applied to features extracted from the data. This approach is extremely versatile and encompasses previously published results [Goutte et al., 1999] as special cases. A typical application is in data reduction: as the increase in temporal resolution of fMRI experiments routinely yields fMRI sequences containing several hundreds of images, it is sometimes necessary to invoke feature extraction to reduce the dimensionality of the data space. A second interesting application is in the meta-analysis of fMRI experiment, where features are obtained from a possibly large number of single-voxel analyses. In particular this allows the checking of the differences and agreements between different methods of analysis. Both approaches are illustrated on a fMRI data set involving visual stimulation, and we show that the feature space clustering approach yields nontrivial results and, in particular, shows interesting differences between individual voxel analysis performed with traditional methods. Hum. Brain Mapping 13:165,183, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Nurses' perceptions of care and caringINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING PRACTICE, Issue 1 2002BA(Hons), Chris Bassett RN Care and caring have been identified as inherently difficult concepts to define, but many authors believe that care is the central and unifying core of nursing. It is vital that nurses understand what care is, with the current issues about measuring and justifying exactly what they do for patients in order to be clear about what good care is. If nurses are to constantly improve the care they give, they need to be clearer about how to care for patients. Nurses need to make sure that they are giving the patients what they want and not what the nurses want. This review of the literature explores nurses' perceptions of care and compares it with what patients want in terms of care. It also highlights some important and interesting differences between what patients and nurses perceive as good care. [source] Advanced glycation endproducts and pro-inflammatory cytokines in transgenic Tg2576 mice with amyloid plaque pathologyJOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY, Issue 2 2003Gerald Münch Abstract Increased expression and altered processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and generation of ,-amyloid peptides is important in the pathogenesis of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Transgenic Tg2576 mice overexpressing the Swedish mutation of human APP exhibit ,-amyloid deposition in the neocortex and limbic areas, accompanied by gliosis and dystrophic neurites. However, murine plaques appear to be less cross-linked and the mice show a lower degree of inflammation and neurodegeneration than AD patients. ,Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs)', formed by reaction of proteins with reactive sugars or dicarbonyl compounds, are able to cross-link proteins and to activate glial cells, and are thus contributing to plaque stability and plaque-induced inflammation in AD. In this study, we analyze the tissue distribution of AGEs and the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1, and TNF-, in 24-month-old Tg2576 mice, and compare the AGE distribution in these mice with a younger age group (13 months old) and a typical Alzheimer's disease patient. Around 70% of the amyloid plaque cores in the 24-month-old mice are devoid of AGEs, which might explain their solubility in physiological buffers. Plaque associated glia, which express IL-1, and TNF-,, contain a significant amount of AGEs, suggesting that plaques, i.e. A, as its major component, can induce intracellular AGE formation and the expression of the cytokines on its own. In the 13-month-old transgenic mice, AGEs staining can neither be detected in plaques nor in glial cells. In contrast, AGEs are present in high amounts in both plaques and glia in the human AD patient. The data obtained in this show interesting differences between the transgenic mouse model and AD patients, which should be considered using the transgenic approach to test therapeutical strategies to eliminate plaques or to attenuate the inflammatory response in AD. [source] Localization and Partnership in the ,New National Health Service': England and Scotland ComparedPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 2 2001Bob Hudson This article examines some important and interesting differences in the designs of the ,New NHS' in England and Scotland in respect of two common guiding imperatives , localization and partnership. In examining the view of key local stakeholders faced with introducing the changes, we contrast the generally more flexible and less prescriptive approach in Scotland. In England there was, initially, a raft of guidance from the centre: in Scotland, by contrast, there was virtually none. In England the prime bases for localization will be PCGs and PCTs: in Scotland they will be Local Health Care Co-operatives (LHCCs). The latter, like the English PCGs, are to be GP-led; but unlike PCGs, membership is voluntary. Underlying such redesign of the organizational architecture are some important changes in cultures and modes of governance. In particular, we note the rhetoric of a shift, at macro-level, from hierarchies and quasi-markets to networks and the perceived reality of a micro-level shift from individualism to collegiality amongst GPs. [source] Studies on azaspiracid biotoxins.RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 24 2002In this study, the performance of monolithic columns was evaluated for ultrafast liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analyses and for high-resolution separations of several azaspiracid biotoxin analogs. Because of their high permeability, monolithic columns offer a number of advantages over conventional packed columns; viz., very low backpressures and relatively flat van Deemter curves at high flow rates. That is, very high flow rates can be used for ultrafast analyses or, by using longer than normal columns, high-resolution separations are possible. In a series of experiments, we varied the mobile phase flow rates between 1 and 8,mL/min, and studied their impact on chromatographic parameters such as retention time, resolution, number of plates and pressure. The chromatographic run times could be reduced to ca. 30,s without a significant change in the separation efficiency. A signal intensity comparison revealed interesting differences between atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electrospray ionization (ESI) in their flow-rate dependency. An explanation with respect to the behavior as of a mass-flow or a concentration-dependent device is given in the paper. Additionally, the column length was varied between 10 and 70,cm. As a result, the number of theoretical plates increased substantially. In the example shown in the report, an increase from 13,000 plates for a 10-cm column to 80,000 for a 70-cm column is demonstrated. In addition, the potential of the monolithic columns for high-resolution LC/MS separations is shown for a complex biotoxin mixture, which was separated on a 40-cm-long column. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Signalization and cytoskeleton activity through myosin IB during the early steps of phagocytosis in Entamoeba histolytica: a proteomic approachCELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 10 2005Sabrina Marion Summary Phagocytosis of human cells is a crucial activity for the virulence of the human parasite Entamoeba histolytica. This protozoan invades and destroys the intestine by killing and phagocytosing epithelial cells, erythrocytes and cells from the immune system. In this study, we used magnetic beads covered with proteins from human serum as a model system to study the early events involved in phagocytosis by E. histolytica. We validated the system showing that the beads uptake triggered the activation of the actin-myosin cytoskeleton and involved a PI3-kinase as previously described for erythrophagocytosis. We purified early phagosomes from wild-type (WT) amoeba and from parasites that overproduced myosin IB (MyoIB+), the unique unconventional myosin of E. histolytica. The MyoIB+ cells exhibit a slower and more synchronized uptake process than the WT strain. Proteomic analysis by liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) of the WT and MyoIB+ phagosomes allowed us to identify, for the first time, molecular actors involved in the early step of the uptake process. These include proteins involved in cytoskeleton activity, signalling, endocytosis, lytic activity and cell surface proteins. Interestingly, the proteins that we found specifically recruited on the phagosomes from the MyoIB+ strain were previously described in other eukarytotic cells, as involved in the regulation of cortical F-actin dynamics, such as ,-actinin and formins. This proteomics approach allows a step further towards the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in phagocytosis in E. histolytica that revealed some interesting differences compared with phagocytosis in macrophages or Dictyostelium discoideum, and allowed to identify putative candidates for proteins linked to myosin IB activity during the phagocytic process [source] The Promotion of Children's and Adolescents' Social Participation in Italy and ScotlandCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 1 2009Elisa Rossi This article presents the theoretical framework, methodology and the main results of a comparative research on the promotion of children's social participation in Italy and Scotland, which was based on politicians', managers' and practitioners' representations. Promotion of participation here is considered a form of social intervention in which adults construct and treat children as citizens entitled to be involved in decision-making processes, due to their competence in self-expression and making choices. The study revealed a coexistence of different images of childhood and social intervention, as well as some interesting differences and similarities between the two socio-cultural contexts. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||