Garlic (Allium sativum) feature-specific nutrient dosage based on using machine learning models.

Brazil presents large yield gaps in garlic crops partly due to nutrient mismanagement at local scale. Machine learning (ML) provides powerful tools to handle numerous combinations of yield-impacting factors that help reducing the number of assumptions about nutrient management. The aim of the current study is to customize fertilizer recommendations to reach high garlic marketable yield at local scale in a pilot study.

Reducing Cybersickness in 360-Degree Virtual Reality.

Despite the technological advancements in Virtual Reality (VR), users are constantly combating feelings of nausea and disorientation, the so-called cybersickness. Cybersickness symptoms cause severe discomfort and hinder the immersive VR experience. Here we investigated cybersickness in 360-degree head-mounted display VR.

Collection of evidence from the reverse side of self-adhesive stamps: A combined approach to obtain dactyloscopic and DNA evidence.

The commonly applied method for the examination of self-adhesive stamps mainly focuses on DNA-profiling while neglecting potential fingerprint evidence. In our preliminary study it was shown that in an uncontrolled environment, fingerprints are transferred from the adhesive side of stamps onto the envelope within the first two days after application. Fingerprints can therefore be examined independently after the separation of the stamp from the envelope.

Character strengths and performance outcomes among military brat and non-brat cadets.

Although many studies have compared military vs. civilian samples on a wide variety of characteristics, few have examined these differences within the context of those who commit a portion of their life to the military. In this study, we explored how West Point cadets with ("military brat cadet") or without ("non-brat cadet") a family military background might differ in terms of their character strengths.

Fracture care using percutaneously applied titanium mesh cages (OsseoFix®) for unstable osteoporotic thoracolumbar burst fractures is able to reduce cement-associated complications--results after 12 months.

Background: Despite the known demographic shift with expected doubled rate of vertebral body fractures by the year 2050, a standardized treatment concept for traumatic and osteoporotic incomplete burst fracture of the truncal spine does not exist. This study aims to determine whether minimally invasive fracture care for incomplete osteoporotic thoracolumbar burst fractures using intravertebral expandable titanium mesh cages is a suitable procedure and may provide improved safety in terms of cement-associated complications in comparison to kyphoplasty procedure.

Methods: In 2011/2012, 15 patients (10 women, 5 men; mean age 77) with 15 incomplete osteoporotic thoracolumbar burst fractures (T10 to L4) were stabilized using intravertebral expandable titanium mesh cages (OsseoFix®) as part of a prospective study.

Streptococcal SpeB cleaved PAR-1 suppresses ERK phosphorylation and blunts thrombin-induced platelet aggregation.

Background: The family of 4 related protease-activated receptors (PAR-1, 2, 3 & 4) expressed by mammalian cells allow to sense for and react to extracellular proteolytic activity. Since major human bacterial pathogens secret a wide array of protease(-s) we investigated whether they interfere with human PAR function.

Methodology/principal Findings: Supernatants from cultures of major human bacterial pathogens were assayed for the presence of protease(-s) capable to cleave overexpressed human PAR-1, 2, 3 and 4 reporter constructs.

A network evaluation of attitudes toward gays and lesbians among U.S. military cadets.

The U.S. military's ban on open homosexuality has become an increasingly salient issue since its implementation in 1993 and its repeal in 2011.

Osseofix® system for percutaneous stabilization of osteoporotic and tumorous vertebral compression fractures - clinical and radiological results after 12 months.

Purpose: Determining whether implantation of an expandable titanium mesh cage (Osseofix® system) is a successful and safe minimally invasive therapy for osteoporotic and tumorous vertebral compression fractures (VCFs).

Materials And Methods: 32 patients (25 women, 7 men, mean age 71) with 46 osteoporotic or tumorous VCFs (T6 to L4) from June 2010 to January 2012 were included. All of them were stabilized with the Osseofix® system.

Percutaneous Stabilization System Osseofix® for Treatment of Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures - Clinical and Radiological Results after 12 Months.

Study Design: A prospective consecutive cohort study (follow-up study).

Objective: Our study investigated whether implantation of an expandable titanium mesh cage (Osseofix®) is a successful and safe minimally invasive therapy for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (VCF). Our experiences, clinical and radiological findings after 12 months follow-up are presented.

Intravenous immunglobulin binds beta amyloid and modifies its aggregation, neurotoxicity and microglial phagocytosis in vitro.

Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been proposed as a potential therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its efficacy is currently being tested in mild-to-moderate AD. Earlier studies reported the presence of anti-amyloid beta (Aβ) antibodies in IVIG. These observations led to clinical studies investigating the potential role of IVIG as a therapeutic agent in AD.

Coiled-coil irregularities of the M1 protein structure promote M1-fibrinogen interaction and influence group A Streptococcus host cell interactions and virulence.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human pathogen causing a wide range of mild to severe and life-threatening diseases. The GAS M1 protein is a major virulence factor promoting GAS invasiveness and resistance to host innate immune clearance. M1 displays an irregular coiled-coil structure, including the B-repeats that bind fibrinogen.

Protease-activated receptor-1 cleaved at R46 mediates cytoprotective effects.

Background: Activated protein C (aPC) mediates powerful cytoprotective effects through the protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1) that translate into reduced harm in mouse injury models. However, it remains elusive how aPC-activated PAR1 can mediate cytoprotective effects whereas thrombin activation does the opposite.

Objectives: We hypothesized that aPC and thrombin might induce distinct active conformations in PAR1 causing opposing effects.

Transcriptional profiling of XdrA, a new regulator of spa transcription in Staphylococcus aureus.

Transcription of spa, encoding the virulence factor protein A in Staphylococcus aureus, is tightly controlled by a complex regulatory network, ensuring its temporal expression over growth and at appropriate stages of the infection process. Transcriptomic profiling of XdrA, a DNA-binding protein that is conserved in all S. aureus genomes and shares similarity with the XRE family of helix-turn-helix, antitoxin-like proteins, revealed it to be a previously unidentified activator of spa transcription.

[Amputation of the leg with impaired circulation. The orthopaedic surgeon's view].

Despite therapeutic improvements in the treatment of arterial circulatory problems of the leg, several tens of thousands of amputations are performed every year. The amputation is not the end of the treatment but is the beginning of the rehabilitation. Decisive criteria for a successful rehabilitation are the quality of the leg-stump, the immediate and early care, and an adequate artificial leg.

A novel DNA-binding protein modulating methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus.

Background: Methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus is conferred by the mecA-encoded penicillin-binding protein PBP2a. Additional genomic factors are also known to influence resistance levels in strain specific ways, although little is known about their contribution to resistance phenotypes in clinical isolates. Here we searched for novel proteins binding to the mec operator, in an attempt to identify new factor(s) controlling methicillin resistance phenotypes.

Variability of SCCmec in the Zurich area.

A periodic survey of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Zurich in 2004 and 2006 revealed a consistently low prevalence of MRSA. SCCmec and ccr typing showed fluctuations in the proportions of SCCmec types and in the carriage of mobile virulence determinants. Together with the presence of variant SCCmecs these findings suggest a high clonal diversity and level of SCCmec recombination.

Impact of mecA promoter mutations on mecA expression and beta-lactam resistance levels.

The reason for the extremely low-level oxacillin resistance in a so-called 'drug clone', a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus circulating among injection drug users in Zurich, Switzerland, could be traced back to the mecA promoter sequence and particularly to the strain's genetic background. Sequencing of its mec complex identified a point mutation (TATACT to TATATT), creating a perfect palindrome in the -10 region of the mecA promoter/operator region containing the binding sites for the mecA repressors MecI and BlaI. Two strains with vastly different beta-lactam resistance phenotypes, the low-level resistant drug clone type strain CHE482 and the highly homogeneously resistant strain COLn, were cured of their SCCmec elements and subsequently transformed with plasmids containing mecA under the control of either the wild-type or mutant promoter.

Iraqi adolescents: self-regard, self-derogation, and perceived threat in war.

A year into the 2003 US-Iraq war, how were adolescents in Baghdad faring? Conflict-related events typically lower psychological well-being; in contrast, investment in and protection of threatened identities should lead to self-esteem striving and, presumably, better well-being. How threatened do Iraqi adolescents feel? Is their self-esteem related to their sense of threat? Do age, religion, ethnicity, and gender alter the link between perceived threat and self-esteem? We use data from 1000 randomly selected adolescents living in Baghdad during July 2004. Iraqi adolescents reported high levels of threat; those feeling more threatened reported higher levels of self-esteem.

Variability in SCCmecN1 spreading among injection drug users in Zurich, Switzerland.

Background: An extremely low level methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) belonging to ST45, circulates among intravenous drug users in the Zurich area. This clone can be misinterpreted as an MSSA by phenotypic oxacillin resistance tests, although it carries a staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) element encoding a functional mecA gene and it produces PBP2a.

Results: This clone carried a new 45.

Fitness cost of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by way of continuous culture.

We examined the effect of introducing type I or IV staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) elements on the growth yield of Staphylococcus aureus in glucose-limited continuous culture. Type I showed increased glucose consumption and ATP demand per gram of cells synthesized and decreased cell yield compared to those of the parent strain. In contrast, type IV SCCmec elements had no adverse energetic effect.

Mosaic staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec containing two recombinase loci and a new mec complex, B2.

A novel staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) mec from a clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolate (ST100/CC5) had a mosaic structure, composed of SCC DNA from several different backgrounds. It harbored two complete ccr loci and a new variant of mec complex B, with DeltamecR1 interrupted by the aminoglycoside resistance transposon Tn4001.

Molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Zurich, Switzerland (2003): prevalence of type IV SCCmec and a new SCCmec element associated with isolates from intravenous drug users.

The majority of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates, recovered in 2003 at the Department of Medical Microbiology in Zürich, Switzerland, belonged to major clones that are circulating worldwide. Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type IV (SCCmec-IV), harbored by half of the isolates, was found in sequence type 217 (ST 217), which is an allelic variant of epidemic MRSA-15 (designated EMRSA-15), in a new local ST 617 descending from clonal complex CC 8 and in low-level oxacillin-resistant strains of multiple genetic lineages characteristic of community-onset MRSA. SCCmec-I, SCCmec-II, and SCCmec-III were in the minority, and four MRSA isolates had complex, rearranged SCCmec elements.

Fitness cost of SCCmec and methicillin resistance levels in Staphylococcus aureus.

Transformation of a type I SCCmec element into Staphylococcus aureus yielded highly oxacillin-resistant transformants with a reduced growth rate. Faster-growing variants could again be selected at the cost of reduced resistance levels, demonstrating an inverse correlation between oxacillin resistance levels and growth rate.

Working with the bereaved: U.S. Army experiences with nontraditional families.

This paper uses a postmodern family perspective to examine the interaction between Army Casualty Assistance Officers (CAOs) and the families of deceased soldiers. The data we examine are open-ended survey responses of CAOs (N = 188) who assisted bereaved families of soldiers killed in three unrelated air disasters. Five themes emerged from our analysis of the qualitative responses: postmodern family structures, contested definitions of "significant other," language, diversity, and emotion.