Feasibility and effectiveness of a two-tiered intervention involving training and a new consultation model for patients with palliative care needs in primary care: A before-after study.

Background: Evidence suggests that involving General Practitioners in the care of patients with palliative care needs may improve patient outcomes.

Aim: To evaluate whether a two-tiered intervention involving training in palliative care and a new consultation model in primary care for patients with palliative care needs is feasible and could reduce patients' symptom burden.

Design: Before-after study including an internal pilot.

COVID-19 vaccinology landscape in Africa.

More than two years after the start of COVID-19 pandemic, Africa still lags behind in terms vaccine distribution. This highlights the predicament of Africa in terms of vaccine development, deployment, and sustainability, not only for COVID-19, but for other major infectious diseases that plague the continent. This opinion discusses the challenges Africa faces in its race to vaccinate its people, and offers recommendations on the way forward.

Multi-feedstock biorefinery concept: Valorization of winery wastes by engineered yeast.

The wine industry produces significant amounts of by-products and residues that are not properly managed, posing an environmental problem. Grape must surplus, vine shoots, and wine lees have the potential to be used as renewable resources for the production of energy and chemicals. Metabolic engineering efforts have established Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an efficient microbial cell factory for biorefineries.

Active APPL1 sequestration by Plasmodium favors liver-stage development.

Intracellular pathogens manipulate host cells to survive and thrive. Cellular sensing and signaling pathways are among the key host machineries deregulated to favor infection. In this study, we show that liver-stage Plasmodium parasites compete with the host to sequester a host endosomal-adaptor protein (APPL1) known to regulate signaling in response to endocytosis.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Diagnostics: Key to Africa's Recovery.

With the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) becoming a full-blown outbreak in Africa, coupled with many other challenges faced on the African continent, it is apparent that Africa continues to need diagnostics to enable case identification and recovery to this and future challenges. With the slow vaccination rates across the continent, reliable diagnostic tests will be in demand, likely for years to come. Thus, access to reliable diagnostic tools to detect the severe acute respiratory syndrome of the coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19, remain a critical pillar to monitor and contain new waves of COVID-19.

Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of top value chemicals from biorefinery carbohydrates.

The implementation of biorefineries for a cost-effective and sustainable production of energy and chemicals from renewable carbon sources plays a fundamental role in the transition to a circular economy. The US Department of Energy identified a group of key target compounds that can be produced from biorefinery carbohydrates. In 2010, this list was revised and included organic acids (lactic, succinic, levulinic and 3-hydroxypropionic acids), sugar alcohols (xylitol and sorbitol), furans and derivatives (hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural and furandicarboxylic acid), biohydrocarbons (isoprene), and glycerol and its derivatives.

Synthesis of Azobenzene Dyes Mediated by CotA Laccase.

An eco-friendly protocol for the synthesis of azobenzene dyes by oxidative coupling of primary aromatic amines is reported. As efficient biocatalytic systems, CotA laccase and CotA laccase/ABTS (2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) enable the oxidation of various substituted anilines, in aqueous medium, ambient atmosphere and under mild reaction conditions of pH and temperature. A series of azobenzene dyes were prepared in good to excellent yields in an one-pot reaction.

Xylitol production from lignocellulosic whole slurry corn cob by engineered industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae PE-2.

In this work, the industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae PE-2 strain, presenting innate capacity for xylitol accumulation, was engineered for xylitol production by overexpression of the endogenous GRE3 gene and expression of different xylose reductases from Pichia stipitis. The best-performing GRE3-overexpressing strain was capable to produce 148.5 g/L of xylitol from high xylose-containing media, with a 0.

Aerosol therapy with colistin methanesulfonate: a biopharmaceutical issue illustrated in rats.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the biopharmaceutical behavior of colistin methanesulfonate (CMS) with special focus on colistin presystemic formation after CMS nebulization in rats. CMS was administered (15 mg x kg(-1) of body weight) either intravenously for systemic pharmacokinetic studies (n = 6) or as an intratracheal nebulization for systemic pharmacokinetic studies (n = 5) or for CMS and colistin concentration measurements in epithelial lining fluid (ELF) at 30, 120, and 240 min after nebulization (n = 14). CMS and colistin concentrations were determined by a new liquid chromatography (LC)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) assay.