Quantitative PCR reveals the frequency and distribution of 3 indigenous yeast species across a range of specialty cheeses.

Indigenous microorganisms are important components of the complex ecosystem of many dairy foods including cheeses, and they are potential contributors to the development of a specific cheese's sensory properties. Among these indigenous microorganisms are the yeasts Cyberlindnera jadinii, Pichia kudriavzevii, and Kazachstania servazzii, which were previously detected using traditional microbiological methods in both raw milk and some artisanal specialty cheeses produced in the province of Québec, Canada. However, their levels across different cheese varieties are unknown.

Pandemic Responsiveness in an Acute Care Setting: A Community Hospital's Utilization of Operational Resources During COVID-19.

Background: To ensure continuity of services while mitigating patient surge and nosocomial infections during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, acute care hospitals have been required to make significant operational adjustments. Here, we identify and discuss key administrative priorities and strategies utilized by a large community hospital located in Ontario, Canada.

Methods: Guided by a qualitative descriptive approach, we performed a thematic analysis of all COVID-19-related documentation discussed by the hospital's emergency operation centre (EOC) during the pandemic's first wave.

Redirecting splicing with bifunctional oligonucleotides.

Ectopic modulators of alternative splicing are important tools to study the function of splice variants and for correcting mis-splicing events that cause human diseases. Such modulators can be bifunctional oligonucleotides made of an antisense portion that determines target specificity, and a non-hybridizing tail that recruits proteins or RNA/protein complexes that affect splice site selection (TOSS and TOES, respectively, for targeted oligonucleotide silencer of splicing and targeted oligonucleotide enhancer of splicing). The use of TOSS and TOES has been restricted to a handful of targets.

Extent and degree of shoreline oiling: Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, USA.

The oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico was documented by shoreline assessment teams as stranding on 1,773 km of shoreline. Beaches comprised 50.8%, marshes 44.

Fourier descriptor analysis and unification of voice range profile contours: method and applications.

Purpose: To describe a method for unified description, statistical modeling, and comparison of voice range profile (VRP) contours, even from diverse sources.

Method: A morphologic modeling technique, which is based on Fourier descriptors (FDs), is applied to the VRP contour. The technique, which essentially involves resampling of the curve of the contour, is assessed and also is compared to density-based VRP averaging methods that use the overlap count.

The Swedish version of the Voice Handicap Index adapted for singers.

This study evaluates a Swedish version of the Voice Handicap Index adapted for singers. A total of 96 healthy singers and 30 singer-patients completed the questionnaire. Validity and reliability, internal coherence, and group differences were assessed.

The singer's voice range profile: female professional opera soloists.

This work concerns the collection of 30 voice range profiles (VRPs) of female operatic voice. We address the questions: Is there a need for a singer's protocol in VRP acquisition? Are physiological measurements sufficient or should the measurement of performance capabilities also be included? Can we address the female singing voice in general or is there a case for categorizing voices when studying phonetographic data? Subjects performed a series of structured tasks involving both standard speech voice protocols and additional singing tasks. Singers also completed an extensive questionnaire.

Not just sound: supplementing the voice range profile with the singer's own perceptions of vocal challenges.

A commercial phonetograph was complemented with a response button, such that presses resulted in marked regions in the voice range profile (VRP). This study reports the VRP data of 16 healthy female professionally trained singers (7 mezzo-sopranos and 9 sopranos). Subjects pressed the button to indicate sensations of vocal instability or reduced control during phonation.

An exploration of skin acceleration level as a measure of phonatory function in singing.

Two kinds of fluctuations are observed in phonetogram recordings of singing. Sound pressure level (SPL) can vary due to vibrato and also due to the effect of open and closed vowels. Since vowel variation is mostly a consequence of vocal tract modification and is not directly related to phonatory function, it could be helpful to suppress such variation when studying phonation.

JNK-mediated BIM phosphorylation potentiates BAX-dependent apoptosis.

Trophic factor deprivation (TFD) activates c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs), culminating in coordinate AP1-dependent transactivation of the BH3-only BCL-2 proteins BIM(EL) and HRK, which in turn are critical for BAX-dependent cytochrome c release, caspase activation, and apoptosis. Here, we report that TFD caused not only induction but also phosphorylation of BIM(EL). Mitochondrially localized JNKs but not upstream activators, like mixed-lineage kinases (MLKs) or mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MKKs), specifically phosphorylated BIM(EL) at Ser65, potentiating its proapoptotic activity.

Tar ball frequency data and analytical results from a long-term beach monitoring program.

Following the spill of fuel oils from the New Carissa in February 1999, approximately 300 km of beaches on the Pacific coast of North America were surveyed. A long-term observation program focused on the documentation of stranded tar balls in the vicinity of the spill site. Systematic beach surveys which were conducted over the period March 1999 to April 2001 and semi-logarithmic scale, time-series plots proved the most useful format for identifying trends.

Isolation and characterization of COX12, the nuclear gene for a previously unrecognized subunit of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome c oxidase.

We have cloned and sequenced COX12, the nuclear gene for subunit VIb of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome c oxidase. This subunit, which was previously not found in cytochrome c oxidase purified from S. cerevisiae, has a deduced amino acid sequence which is 41% identical to the sequences of subunits VIb of bovine and human cytochrome c oxidases.