What affects you? A conversation analysis of exploring emotions during reflection sessions in Dutch general practitioner training.

Introduction: In Dutch training for general practitioners (GPs), reflection on professional practice is key to their training. Such reflection is considered beneficial for professional development, especially when it entails discussing the emotional dimension of practice experiences. In the GP context, invitations to share the emotional side of things, such as "how did that make you feel?" are considered functional; yet, they are also sometimes viewed by participants as 'grilling', 'just too much' or 'too intimate'.

The older, the better: Ageing improves the efficiency of biochar-compost mixture to alleviate drought stress in plant and soil.

Due to increased drought frequency following climate change, practices improving water use efficiency and reducing water-stress are needed. The efficiency of organic amendments to improve plant growth conditions under drought is poorly known. Our aim was to investigate if organic amendments can attenuate plant water-stress due to their effect on the plant-soil system and if this effect may increase upon ageing.

IL-1R1-Dependent Signals Improve Control of Cytosolic Virulent Mycobacteria .

infections claim more than a million lives each year, and better treatments or vaccines are required. A crucial pathogenicity factor is translocation from phagolysosomes to the cytosol upon phagocytosis by macrophages. Translocation from the phagolysosome to the cytosol is an ESX-1-dependent process, as previously shown Here, we show that , mycobacteria also translocate to the cytosol but mainly when host immunity is compromised.

Surface Labeling with Adhesion Protein FimH Improves Binding of Immunotherapeutic Agent Ty21a to the Bladder Epithelium.

Background: Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer in men. 70% of these tumors are classified as non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and those patients receive 6 intravesical instillations with BCG after transurethral resection. However, 30% of patients show recurrences after treatment and experience severe side effects that often lead to therapy discontinuation.

Exploring metal availability in the natural niche of to discover potential vaccine antigens.

Nasopharyngeal colonization by is a prerequisite for pneumococcal transmission and disease. Current vaccines protect only against disease and colonization caused by a limited number of serotypes, consequently allowing serotype replacement and transmission. Therefore, the development of a broadly protective vaccine against colonization, transmission and disease is desired but requires a better understanding of pneumococcal adaptation to its natural niche.

Metal immobilization and nitrate reduction in a contaminated soil amended with zero-valent iron (Fe).

Technologies based on zero-valent iron (Fe) are increasingly being used to immobilize metals in soils and remove metals and nitrate from waters. However, the impact of nitrate reduction on metal immobilization in metal contaminated soils has been poorly investigated so far. Here, different concentrations of Fe filings (1%, 2% and 5%; wt%) were applied to a metal contaminated soil.

Combining Protein Ligation Systems to Expand the Functionality of Semi-Synthetic Outer Membrane Vesicle Nanoparticles.

Bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) attract increasing interest as immunostimulatory nanoparticles for the development of vaccines and therapeutic agents. We previously engineered the autotransporter protein Hemoglobin protease (Hbp) into a surface display carrier that can be expressed to high density on the surface of OMVs. Moreover, we implemented Tag-Catcher protein ligation technology, to obtain dense display of single heterologous antigens and nanobodies on the OMVs through coupling to the distal end of the Hbp passenger domain.

Potential use of mealworm frass as a fertilizer: Impact on crop growth and soil properties.

Rearing insects is expected to dramatically increase during the next few years, and this will be associated with generating high quantities of frass (insect excreta). It is necessary to find solutions allowing the efficient valorization of these by-products before a major upscaling of the industry takes place. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the fertilizer potential of frass.

Phosphorus-acquisition strategies of canola, wheat and barley in soil amended with sewage sludges.

Crops have different strategies to acquire poorly-available soil phosphorus (P) which are dependent on their architectural, morphological, and physiological root traits, but their capacity to enhance P acquisition varies with the type of fertilizer applied. The objective of this study was to examine how P-acquisition strategies of three main crops are affected by the application of sewage sludges, compared with a mineral P fertilizer. We carried out a 3-months greenhouse pot experiment and compared the response of P-acquisition traits among wheat, barley and canola in a soil amended with three sludges or a mineral P fertilizer.

Outer membrane vesicles engineered to express membrane-bound antigen program dendritic cells for cross-presentation to CD8 T cells.

Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are vesicular nano-particles produced by Gram-negative bacteria that are recently being explored as vaccine vector. The fact that OMVs can be efficiently produced by a hypervesiculating Salmonella typhimurium strain, are packed with naturally-occurring adjuvants like lipopolysaccharides (LPS), and can be engineered to express any antigen of choice, makes them ideal candidates for vaccinology. However, it is unclear whether OMVs induce dendritic cell (DC)-mediated antigen-specific T cell responses and how immune activation is coordinated.

Immunization With Skp Delivered on Outer Membrane Vesicles Protects Mice Against Enterotoxigenic Challenge.

Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are promising vaccine components because they combine antigen and adjuvant in a single formulation. Detoxified strains that express penta-acylated lipid A retain OMV immunogenicity but with reduced reactogenicity. We have previously shown that a recombinant form of the enterotoxigenic (ETEC) 17 kilodalton protein (Skp) protects mice in a pulmonary challenge model, when fused to the glutathione-S-transferase (GST) epitope and combined with cholera toxin.

Characterization of metal binding sites onto biochar using rare earth elements as a fingerprint.

The ability of biochar to immobilize metals relies on the amount of functional groups at its surface but the contribution of each functional groups (e.g. carboxylic, phenolic) to metal bonding is poorly known.

Display of Recombinant Proteins on Bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles by Using Protein Ligation.

The virulence factor hemoglobin protease (Hbp) has been engineered into a surface display system that can be expressed to high density on live and serovar Typhimurium cells or derived outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). Multiple antigenic sequences can be genetically fused into the Hbp core structure for optimal exposure to the immune system. Although the Hbp display platform is relatively tolerant, increasing the number, size, and complexity of integrated sequences generally lowers the expression of the fused constructs and limits the density of display.

Th17-Mediated Cross Protection against Pneumococcal Carriage by Vaccination with a Variable Antigen.

Serotype-specific protection against is an important limitation of the current polysaccharide-based vaccines. To prevent serotype replacement, reduce transmission, and limit the emergence of new variants, it is essential to induce broad protection and restrict pneumococcal colonization. In this study, we used a prototype vaccine formulation consisting of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-detoxified outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) from serovar Typhimurium displaying the variable N terminus of PspA (α1α2) for intranasal vaccination, which induced strong Th17 immunity associated with a substantial reduction of pneumococcal colonization.

Application of an E. coli signal sequence as a versatile inclusion body tag.

Background: Heterologous protein production in Escherichia coli often suffers from bottlenecks such as proteolytic degradation, complex purification procedures and toxicity towards the expression host. Production of proteins in an insoluble form in inclusion bodies (IBs) can alleviate these problems. Unfortunately, the propensity of heterologous proteins to form IBs is variable and difficult to predict.

Plant Functional Traits: Soil and Ecosystem Services.

Decline of ecosystem services has triggered numerous studies aiming at developing more sustainable agricultural management practices. Some agricultural practices may improve soil properties by expanding plant biodiversity. However, sustainable management of agroecosystems should be performed from a functional plant trait perspective.

Impact of biochar and root-induced changes on metal dynamics in the rhizosphere of Agrostis capillaris and Lupinus albus.

Rhizosphere interactions are deemed to play a key role in the success of phytoremediation technologies. Here, the effects of biochar and root-induced changes in the rhizosphere of Agrostis capillaris L. and Lupinus albus L.

Impact of root-induced mobilization of zinc on stable Zn isotope variation in the soil-plant system.

Stable Zn isotopes are increasingly used to trace the source of metal pollution in the environment and to gain a better understanding of the biogeochemical cycle of Zn. In this work, we investigated the effect of plants on Zn isotope fractionation in the soil-plant system of the surface horizon of two Zn-rich Technosols (pH 6.73-7.

Mobility, bioavailability and pH-dependent leaching of cadmium, zinc and lead in a contaminated soil amended with biochar.

The effect of biochar application on the fate of Cd, Zn and Pb was investigated in a contaminated soil amended with three different rates of biochar (1%, 5% and 10%; w/w). In an incubation experiment, the 0.01M CaCl2-extractability of metals after 1h of incubation significantly decreased with increasing rate of biochar application.

ESX-1-mediated translocation to the cytosol controls virulence of mycobacteria.

Mycobacterium species, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae, are among the most potent human bacterial pathogens. The discovery of cytosolic mycobacteria challenged the paradigm that these pathogens exclusively localize within the phagosome of host cells. As yet the biological relevance of mycobacterial translocation to the cytosol remained unclear.

Comparison of EDTA-enhanced phytoextraction and phytostabilisation strategies with Lolium perenne on a heavy metal contaminated soil.

Phytoremediation is a promising and cost-effective strategy to manage heavy metal polluted sites. In this experiment, we compared simultaneously phytoextraction and phytostabilisation techniques on a Cd and Zn contaminated soil, through monitoring of plant accumulation and leaching. Lolium perenne plants were cultivated for 2 months under controlled environmental conditions in a 27.

Cholesterol sensor ORP1L contacts the ER protein VAP to control Rab7-RILP-p150 Glued and late endosome positioning.

Late endosomes (LEs) have characteristic intracellular distributions determined by their interactions with various motor proteins. Motor proteins associated to the dynactin subunit p150(Glued) bind to LEs via the Rab7 effector Rab7-interacting lysosomal protein (RILP) in association with the oxysterol-binding protein ORP1L. We found that cholesterol levels in LEs are sensed by ORP1L and are lower in peripheral vesicles.

Evasion of peptide, but not lipid antigen presentation, through pathogen-induced dendritic cell maturation.

Dendritic cells (DC) present lipid and peptide antigens to T cells on CD1 and MHC Class II (MHCII), respectively. The relative contribution of these systems during the initiation of adaptive immunity after microbial infection is not characterized. MHCII molecules normally acquire antigen and rapidly traffic from phagolysosomes to the plasma membrane as part of DC maturation, whereas CD1 molecules instead continually recycle between these sites before, during, and after DC maturation.

M. tuberculosis and M. leprae translocate from the phagolysosome to the cytosol in myeloid cells.

M. tuberculosis and M. leprae are considered to be prototypical intracellular pathogens that have evolved strategies to enable growth in the intracellular phagosomes.