A novel method of transglutaminase (TGase) treatment for skim milk yoghurt production was investigated. In contrast to previous studies, TGase pre-treated skim milk powder (SMP) was used as protein ...fortification for yoghurt making, instead of treating the entire yoghurt milk. When the TGase concentration for powder production was increased from 0 to 10 U g
−1 protein, the viscosity of stirred skim milk yoghurt produced with addition of TGase-treated SMP increased from 247 to 453 mPas and the serum loss assessed using a centrifugation method decreased from 57.1% to 52.6%. Furthermore, by using enzyme-modified SMP, only half of the protein addition was required to obtain an equivalent viscosity compared to the control. The study showed that crosslinking the caseins by TGase only in the added SMP yields the desired positive effects while allowing for a complete elimination of the residual enzyme activity.
La malnutrition et l’obésité ont toutes deux été associées à un mauvais pronostic dans le cas du COVID-19. Cependant, chez les adultes très âgés de plus de 80 ans hospitalisés, qui constituent ...souvent un groupe de patients sous-représentés dans la littérature, il est intéressant de noter que le rôle de l’indice de masse corporelle (IMC) dans cette pathologie n’a pas été si bien caractérisé. Des données récentes suggèrent que l’obésité n’est pas un facteur de risque pour ces patients atteints de COVID-19, mais soulignent plutôt le rôle de l’insuffisance pondérale et de la malnutrition chez les patients gériatriques atteints de COVID-19. Cette étude avait pour but d’évaluer l’association entre l’IMC et la survie chez des patients très âgés hospitalisés atteints de la COVID-19.
Pour répondre à l’objectif, des modèles de régression de Cox ont été construits et la valeur pronostique du taux d’albumine a été évaluée à l’aide de C Statistics.
Parmi 434 patients âgés de ≥ 70 ans hospitalisés pour une suspicion de COVID-19, 219 patients (âge médian 83 ans, 53 % d’hommes) testés positifs pour le COVID-19 ont eu un relevé de l’IMC à l’admission. Parmi eux, 39 avaient un IMC<20kg/m2, 73 un IMC ≥ 20kg/m2 et<25kg/m2 et 107 un IMC>25kg/m2. Après ajustement sur les facteurs de confusion, les patients avec IMC<20 avaient un risque plus élevé de mortalité à un an (Hazard ratio intervalle de confiance à 95 % : 1,75 1,00–3,05, p=0,048), contrairement aux patients avec un IMC>30 (HR 1,06 0,65–1,74, p=0,8). Le taux d’albumine n’a pas permis de prédire le pronostic à court (C statistics = 0,56 0,48–0,65, p=0,2) et à long terme (C statistics = 0,55 0,47–0,62, p=0,2).
Dans cette population de patients très âgés hospitalisés pour une COVID-19, un IMC<20 est un facteur indépendant de mortalité à un an, alors qu’un IMC>30 n’est pas associé au pronostic.
Purpose Antibiotic prophylaxis is given to children at risk for urinary tract infection. However, evidence concerning its effectiveness in grade I to III vesicoureteral reflux is lacking. The ...objective of this study was to determine whether antibiotic prophylaxis reduces the incidence of urinary tract infection in young children with low grade vesicoureteral reflux. Materials and Methods Children 1 month to 3 years old with grade I to III vesicoureteral reflux were assigned randomly to receive daily cotrimoxazole or no treatment, and followed for 18 months. A urinary tract infection constituted an exit criterion. Infection-free survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log rank test. Results A total of 225 children were enrolled in the study. Distribution of gender, age at inclusion and reflux grade were similar between the 2 groups. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of urinary tract infection between the 2 groups (17% vs 26%, p = 0.2). However, a significant association was found between treatment and patient gender (p = 0.017). Prophylaxis significantly reduced urinary tract infection in boys (p = 0.013), most notably in boys with grade III vesicoureteral reflux (p = 0.042). Conclusions These data suggest that antibiotic prophylaxis does not reduce the overall incidence of urinary tract infection in children with low grade vesicoureteral reflux. However, such a strategy may prevent further urinary tract infection in boys with grade III reflux.
Fibrosis, defined as the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix in an organ, is the main complication of chronic liver damage. Its endpoint is cirrhosis, which is responsible for significant ...morbidity and mortality. The accumulation of extracellular matrix observed in fibrosis and cirrhosis is due to the activation of fibroblasts, which acquire a myofibroblastic phenotype. Myofibroblasts are absent from normal liver. They are produced by the activation of precursor cells, such as hepatic stellate cells and portal fibroblasts. These fibrogenic cells are distributed differently in the hepatic lobule: the hepatic stellate cells resemble pericytes and are located along the sinusoids, in the Disse space between the endothelium and the hepatocytes, whereas the portal fibroblasts are embedded in the portal tract connective tissue around portal structures (vessels and biliary structures). Differences have been reported between these two fibrogenic cell populations, in the mechanisms leading to myofibroblastic differentiation, activation and “deactivation”, but confirmation is required. Second-layer cells surrounding centrolobular veins, fibroblasts present in the Glisson capsule surrounding the liver, and vascular smooth muscle cells may also express a myofibroblastic phenotype and may be involved in fibrogenesis. It is now widely accepted that the various types of lesion (e.g., lesions caused by alcohol abuse and viral hepatitis) leading to liver fibrosis involve specific fibrogenic cell subpopulations. The biological and biochemical characterisation of these cells is thus essential if we are to understand the mechanisms underlying the progressive development of excessive scarring in the liver. These cells also differ in proliferative and apoptotic capacity, at least in vitro. All this information is required for the development of treatments specifically and efficiently targeting the cells responsible for the development of fibrosis/cirrhosis.
Timing performance of a Micro-Channel-Plate Photomultiplier Tube Bortfeldt, J.; Brunbauer, F.; David, C. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
04/2020, Volume:
960, Issue:
C
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The spatial dependence of the timing performance of the R3809U-50 Micro-Channel-Plate PMT (MCP-PMT) by Hamamatsu was studied in high energy muon beams. Particle position information is provided by a ...GEM tracker telescope, while timing is measured relative to a second MCP-PMT, identical in construction. In the inner part of the circular active area (radius r<5.5 mm) the time resolution of the two MCP-PMTs combined is better than 10 ps. The signal amplitude decreases in the outer region due to less light reaching the photocathode, resulting in a worse time resolution. The observed radial dependence is in quantitative agreement with a dedicated simulation. With this characterization, the suitability of MCP-PMTs as t0 reference detectors has been validated.
Antimicrobial stewardship programmes (ASPs) have been effective in optimizing antibiotic use for inpatients. However, an emergency department's fast-paced clinical setting can be challenging for a ...successful ASP.
In April 2015, an ASP was implemented in our emergency department and we aimed to determine its impact on antimicrobial use for outpatients.
This was a single-centre study comparing the quality of antibiotic prescriptions between a one-year period before ASP implementation (November 2012 to October 2013) and a one-year period after its implementation (June 2015 to May 2016). For each period, antimicrobial prescriptions for all adult outpatients (hospitalized for <24h) were evaluated by an infectious disease specialist and an emergency department physician to assess compliance with local prescribing guidelines. Inappropriate prescriptions were then classified.
Before and after ASP, 34,671 and 35,925 consultations were registered at our emergency department, of which 25,470 and 26,208 were outpatients. Antimicrobials were prescribed in 769 (3.0%) and 580 (2.2%) consultations, respectively (P < 0.0001). There were 484 (62.9%) and 271 (46.7%) (P < 0.0001) instances of non-compliance with guidelines before and after ASP implementation. Non-compliance included unnecessary antimicrobial prescriptions, 197 (25.6%) vs 101 (17.4%) (P<0.0005); inappropriate spectrum, 108 (14.0%) vs 54 (9.3%) (P=0.008); excessive treatment duration, 87 (11.3%) vs 53 (9.1%) (P>0.05); and inappropriate choices, 11 (1.4%) vs 15 (2.6%) (P>0.05).
The implementation of an ASP markedly decreased the number of unnecessary antimicrobial prescriptions, but had little impact on most other aspects of inappropriate prescribing.
The optimization and advanced study of a laser-plasma electron injector are presented based on a truncated ionization injection scheme for high quality beam production. The smilei code is used with ...laser envelope approximation and a low number of particles per cell to reach computation time performances enabling the production of a large number of accelerator configurations. The developed and tested workflow is a possible approach for the production of a large dataset for laser-plasma accelerator optimization. A selection of functions of merit used to grade generated electron beams is discussed. Among the significant number of configurations, two specific working points are presented in detail. All data generated are left open to the scientific community for further study and optimization.
Unusual presentations of maltreatment Picherot, G; Vabres, N; Caldaques-Ramos, E ...
Archives de pédiatrie : organe officiel de la Société française de pédiatrie
16, Issue:
6
Journal Article
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