The spatial and temporal effect of fish farming on the water column of Pagasitikos Gulf was examined, between April and July 2017 by means of GIS. For this purpose a horizontal and a vertical ...transect of 11 sampling stations was settled. The GLM analysis showed significant spatial and temporal differences for DO, chl α and nutrients, except for NH4 and NO3 that were not revealed temporal variation. DO and NH4 distribution revealed a specific pattern of impact from the fish farm operation. However, concentration of nutrients do not exceed the permitted limits for eutrophication or affect the welfare of cultivated organisms. Moreover, GIS considered to be a very useful tool for the investigation and presentation of the fish farming effects in the aquatic environment. Further studies should be carried out in order to improve the efficiency of this tool for the benefit of aquaculture sector in the Mediterranean.
•GIS for aquaculture impact assessment•Aquaculture environmental interactions•Aquaculture contribution to eutrophication in the Eastern Mediterranean•Distribution pattern of nutrient in the vicinity of a fish farm•The impact of fish farming on nutrients concentration seems to be spatially limited
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS), a culture based alternative for microbial diversity studies, is an attractive tool to dereplicate large ...numbers of isolates to a smaller set of representatives for downstream characterization. In the present study, MALDI-TOF MS, combined with a database of reference spectra compiled in previous studies, was applied to identify 88 non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB) isolated from 18 samples of four different artisanal cheeses produced in the Island of Naxos, Greece, from raw sheep and goat milk without the addition of starters. Eighty-four isolates (95.5%) could be identified directly via MALDI-TOF MS. Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum were the dominant species, followed by Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Enterococcus faecium. The remaining four isolates represented species present in the database; however, within-species diversity was insufficiently covered. Additionally, pheS sequencing was applied to confirm identification.
•Application of MALDI-TOF MS for the identification of lactic acid bacteria•First fingerprinting of the non-starter lactic acid bacteria of artisanal cheeses produced in the Island of Naxos, Greece•PheS sequencing was performed to validate MALDI-TOF MS identication
The apparent heterogeneity of multiple myeloma (MM) necessitates the identification of novel biomarkers with a strong prognostic value. The presence of circulating plasma cells (CPCs) in newly ...diagnosed patients (NDMM) has been proposed as a valuable prognostic biomarker, though current methodologies reported yielded heterogeneous results due to variations in their detection efficacy.
To evaluate the characteristics and prognostic value of CPCs, utilizing highly sensitive next-generation flow (NGF) cytometry, able to detect aberrant plasma cells (APCs) at levels reaching 10−6.
Peripheral blood (PB) and matched bone marrow (BM) samples from 325 NDMM patients were prospectively evaluated for the presence of APCs according to Euroflow-NGF protocol for a median LOD reached of 3.6 × 10−6. CPC numbers correlated with various clinical parameters and the median follow-up period since CPC assessment was 24 months.
Clinical outcome endpoints considered were the type of response to induction therapy and PFS. Our hypothesis was that higher CPC numbers would correlate with adverse prognostic features and worse clinical outcomes.
CPCs were detected in 288/325 (88.6%) samples (range, 0.0002% - 63.8% of PBNCs). CPCs and matched BM APCs had similar phenotypic characteristics; notably, when two or more phenotypically distinct APC-subsets were detectable in BM, the same subsets were also present in PB with similar relative frequency. Higher CPC numbers (>0.1% of PBNCs) correlated with increased BM infiltration, ISS-3 stage, and high-risk cytogenetics (p < 0.0001). Inversely, lower presence of CPCs (≤0.001% of PBNCs) correlated with decreased serum β2-microglobulin, higher hemoglobin levels, and an elevated BM normal plasma cell compartment (p < 0.0001). No association was detected between the CPC number and the therapeutic response to induction treatment. Nevertheless, despite the short follow-up period, there is a trend for inferior PFS in patients with high CPCs (p=0.08).
NGF enables the detection of rare CPCs in NDMM, many of which would have been falsely missed with a lower sensitivity approach. The similarity of CPCs with BM APCs and the strong correlation of higher CPC numbers with adverse disease characteristics highlight a valuable surrogate prognostic tool, which could representatively replace standard BM invasive methods.
An in silico pathway analysis was performed in order to improve current knowledge on the molecular drivers of cervical cancer and detect potential targets for treatment. Three publicly available ...Affymetrix gene expression data-sets (GSE5787, GSE7803, GSE9750) were retrieved, vouching for a total of 9 cervical cancer cell lines (CCCLs), 39 normal cervical samples, 7 CIN3 samples and 111 cervical cancer samples (CCSs). Predication analysis of microarrays was performed in the Affymetrix sets to identify cervical cancer biomarkers. To select cancer cell-specific genes the CCSs were compared to the CCCLs. Validated genes were submitted to a gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and Expression2Kinases (E2K). In the CCSs a total of 1,547 probe sets were identified that were overexpressed (FDR < 0.1). Comparing to CCCLs 560 probe sets (481 unique genes) had a cancer cell-specific expression profile, and 315 of these genes (65%) were validated. GSEA identified 5 cancer hallmarks enriched in CCSs (P < 0.01 and FDR < 0.25) showing that deregulation of the cell cycle is a major component of cervical cancer biology. E2K identified a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of 162 nodes (including 20 drugable kinases) and 1626 edges. This PPI-network consists of 5 signaling modules associated with MYC signaling (Module 1), cell cycle deregulation (Module 2), TGFβ-signaling (Module 3), MAPK signaling (Module 4) and chromatin modeling (Module 5). Potential targets for treatment which could be identified were CDK1, CDK2, ABL1, ATM, AKT1, MAPK1, MAPK3 among others. The present study identified important driver pathways in cervical carcinogenesis which should be assessed for their potential therapeutic drugability.
The production of Greek-style natural black table olives remains an empirical process relying on spontaneous fermentation despite its economic significance. For this reason producers often resort to ...increased NaCl concentration of the brine to secure quality of the product. In this study we employ two lactic acid bacteria Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides Lm139 and Lactobacillus pentosus DSM 16366 as starters in separate laboratory low salinity fermentations of "Kalamon" cultivar olives, processed according to the Greek-style method. L. mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides Lm139 was previously isolated from Kalamon olives laboratory spontaneous fermentations, while L. pentosus DSM 16366 was isolated from fermenting green olives prepared according to the Spanish-style method. Spontaneous olives fermentation was also performed as a control. Microbiological and physicochemical analyses of the brines revealed that the use of the starters had a significant effect on the olives fermentation, leading to a faster acidification due to the more efficient consumption of soluble sugars in the brines. The final pH value reached by each starter culture used indicates a successful lactic fermentation. The production of lactic acid by the starters and the concomitant drop of the pH value proved to inhibit enterobacteria in a shorter period of time compared to the spontaneous fermentation. Concluding, the use of either of the two lactic acid bacteria as starters in Greek-style Kalamon olives fermentation could lead to a more controllable fermentation at lower salinities. The resulting product could be of higher quality with extended shelf-life while being at the same time safer for the consumer.
In the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer, chemotherapy is used as a backbone to which an angiogenesis inhibitor such as bevacizumab (vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF) or a monoclonal ...antibody to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) such as cetuximab or panitumumab is added. In this article, we seek answers to the question: “FIRE-3 and C80405: is there a best choice for initial treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer?” In the absence of clear and univocal evidence that EGFR inhibitors should be used in the first-line setting for patients with metastatic RAS wild-type colorectal cancer, the physician and patient still have the choice between bevacizumab or an EGFR inhibitor as addition to the chemotherapy (FOLFIRI or FOLFOX) in this setting. This choice will be influenced by the different toxicity profiles of bevacizumab and cetuximab or panitumumab and will therefore depend on existing comorbidities of the patient and patient/physician preferences. The higher response rate of the combination of chemotherapy with cetuximab could make this treatment more interesting as induction therapy.
This paper presents the formulation and practical implementation of positioning methodologies that compensate for the nonholonomic constraints of a mobile microrobot that is driven by two vibrating ...direct current （DC） micromotors. The open-loop and closed-loop approaches described here add the capability for net sidewise displacements of the microrobotic platform. A displacement is achieved by the execution of a number of repeating steps that depend on the desired displacement, the speed of the micromotors, and the elapsed time. Simulation and experimental results verified the performance of the proposed methodologies.
Phases of planar AdS black holes with axionic charge Caldarelli, Marco M.; Christodoulou, Ariana; Papadimitriou, Ioannis ...
The journal of high energy physics,
04/2017, Volume:
2017, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
A
bstract
Planar AdS black holes with axionic charge have finite DC conductivity due to momentum relaxation. We obtain a new family of exact asymptotically AdS
4
black branes with scalar hair, ...carrying magnetic and axion charge, and we study the thermodynamics and dynamic stability of these, as well as of a number of previously known electric and dyonic solutions with axion charge and scalar hair. The scalar hair for all solutions satisfy mixed boundary conditions, which lead to modified holographic Ward identities, conserved charges and free energy, relative to those following from the more standard Dirichlet boundary conditions. We show that properly accounting for the scalar boundary conditions leads to well defined first law and other thermodynamic relations. Finally, we compute the holographic quantum effective potential for the dual scalar operator and show that dynamical stability of the hairy black branes is equivalent to positivity of the energy density.
A
bstract
We present a comprehensive analysis of supersymmetry anomalies in the free and massless Wess-Zumino (WZ) model in perturbation theory. At the classical level the model possesses
N
= 1 ...superconformal symmetry, which is partially broken by quantum anomalies. The form of the anomalies and the part of the symmetry they break depend on the multiplet of conserved currents used. It was previously shown that the R-symmetry anomaly of the conformal current multiplet induces an anomaly in Q-supersymmetry, which appears first in 4-point functions. Here we confirm this result by an explicit 1-loop computation using a supersymmetric Pauli-Villars regulator.
The conformal current multiplet does not exist in the regulated theory because the regulator breaks conformal invariance, R-symmetry and S-supersymmetry explicitly. The minimal massive multiplet is the Ferrara-Zumino (FZ) one and the supersymmetry preserved by the regulator is a specific field dependent combination of Q- and S- supersymmetry of the conformal multiplet. While this supersymmetry is non anomalous, conformal invariance, R-symmetry and the original Q- and S-supersymmetries are explicitly broken by finite contact terms, both in the regulated and renormalized theories.
A conformal current multiplet does exist for the renormalized theory and may be obtained from the FZ multiplet by a set of finite local counterterms that eliminate the explicit symmetry breaking, thus restoring superconformal invariance up to anomalies. However, this necessarily renders both Q- and S-supersymmetries anomalous, as is manifest starting at 4-point functions of conformal multiplet currents. The paper contains a detailed discussion of a number of issues and subtleties related to Ward identities that may be useful in a wider context.
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