Search

The nationwide survey on local economic development and competitiveness index shows the local government unit’s competence in three major dimensions namely; economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure. It focuses on 30 pre-identified indicators of economic development and competitiveness from the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) reflecting the local government unit’s (LGUs) financial growth and stability, and examines the potential reinforcing factors as well as the hindering factors on business licensing competitiveness. The survey was conducted in Mindanao to gather secondary sources of data from various local government offices, private sectors and regional agencies. The findings revealed that the quality of performance in terms of economic dynamism, efficiency and infrastructure is highly relevant but not excellent. The progressive LGUs have shown responsiveness on efficiency in terms of government policy on service, client demands, consistent with the national policies to improve support on the government economic programs, however, it failed to have an excellent rating. Thus, there are still more lacking areas in promoting tourism support, business and industry promotion, and transparency on entrepreneurship. The scope of economic development and competitiveness provided opportunities on the plurality of factors to describe increase accountability among key local authorities on systematic recording and archiving of financial data.

This study explored the growth parameters and nutritional composition of Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) reared on some selected alternative organic waste materials. The substrates comprised wheat bran (WB) as the control, millet waste (MW), restaurant leftovers (RL) and fruits waste (FW) and were replicated 8 times in a mini-insectary set-up. Proximate nutrient and mineral composition of the larvae were analyzed. RL had the highest (p

Abstract Poultry enterprise is challenged with high economic losses due to viral infections. The outbreak of such infections, including Newcastle disease, avian influenza, infectious bronchitis and infectious bursal disease, could undermine poultry performance leading to decreased meat and egg production. The potency of vaccines in recent times has dropped with the rise in the virulence of antigens, which can interrupt vaccination defence. Natural herbs and phytochemicals have been extensively recommended because of their vast advantageous effects. Garlic and its bioactive organo‐sulphur compounds have been proven to have antiviral, immunomodulatory and other pharmaceutical properties. Remarkable effects in poultry include a decrease in viral loads, an increase in antibody titres, lessening inflammatory cytokines and augmenting antiviral gene expression; however, methods of preparation, the dose of bioactive compounds and proportions administered may cause disparities in different reports. Therefore, this review highlights the potential of garlic against viral diseases, immunomodulatory, toxicity and pathological status in embryonated chicken eggs and poultry.

Morphological models are commonly used to describe microstructures observed in heterogeneous materials. Usually, these models depend upon a set of parameters that must be chosen carefully to match experimental observations conducted on the microstructure. A common approach to perform the parameters determination is to try to minimize an objective function, usually taken to be the discrepancy between measurements computed on the simulations and on the experimental observations, respectively. In this article, we present a Bayesian approach for determining the parameters of morphological models, based upon the definition of a posterior distribution for the parameters. A Monte Carlo Markov Chains (MCMC) algorithm is then used to generate samples from the posterior distribution and to identify a set of optimal parameters. We show on several examples that the Bayesian approach allows us to properly identify the optimal parameters of distinct morphological models and to identify potential correlations between the parameters of the models.

Liberalism is a very broad political family which, if taken in the broadest sense, brings together authors with diverse positions whose only common point is their attachment to freedom. Therefore, to find one’s way around in this political family, it is essential to establish classification criteria. There are many possibilities: Liberals can be classified by nationality, by period, by preferred field of interest (economic liberalism, political liberalism), etc. This article proposes to classify them following two criteria, the conception of freedom on the one hand, and the utilitarian or jusnaturalist basis of the attachment to freedom on the other. These two criteria generate an operational grid of six categories which, without exhausting liberalism, highlights decisive fractures within.

The Nicaraguan government of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro has revitalized the the nation's main environmental conservation program, the Nicaraguan Instituto de Recursos Naturales y del Ambiente (IRENA). Their approach to conservation through sustainable development offers the fourth world nation a chance to prosper economically while protecting resources. The country is working with international agencies, neighboring countries and indigenous people in hopes of stopping the damage that the 43-year reign of the Somoza family perpetuated.

Diatoms are major oceanic primary producers, but some species belonging to the nano- and even picoplankton size are poorly characterized. Here the authors describe a massive spring bloom of the smallest known diatom in the Mediterranean Sea and reveal their general oversight at the global scale.

The Arctic Ocean is particularly affected by climate change, with changes in sea ice cover expected to impact phytoplankton primary production. During the Green Edge expedition, the development of the late spring–early summer diatom bloom was studied in relation with the sea ice retreat by multiple transects across the marginal ice zone. Biogenic silica concentrations and uptake rates were measured. In addition, diatom assemblage structures and their associated carbon biomass were determined, along with taxon-specific contributions to total biogenic silica production using the fluorescent dye PDMPO. Results indicate that a diatom bloom developed in open waters close to the ice edge, following the alleviation of light limitation, and extended 20–30 km underneath the ice pack. This actively growing diatom bloom (up to 0.19 μmol Si L–1 d–1) was associated with high biogenic silica concentrations (up to 2.15 μmol L–1), and was dominated by colonial fast-growing centric ('Chaetoceros' spp. and 'Thalassiosira' spp.) and ribbon-forming pennate species ('Fragilariopsis' spp./'Fossula arctica'). The bloom remained concentrated over the shallow Greenland shelf and slope, in Atlantic-influenced waters, and weakened as it moved westwards toward ice-free Pacific-influenced waters. The development resulted in a near depletion of all nutrients eastwards of the bay, which probably induced the formation of resting spores of 'Melosira arctica'. In contrast, under the ice pack, nutrients had not yet been consumed. Biogenic silica and uptake rates were still low (respectively

Due to climate change and anthropogenic pressure, freshwater availability is declining in areas where it has not been noticeable so far. As a result, the demands for alternative sources of safe drinking water and effective methods of purification are growing. A solution worth considering is the treatment of rainwater by microfiltration. This study presents the results of selected analyses of rainwater runoff, collected from the roof surface of individual households equipped with the rainwater harvesting system. The method of rainwater management and research location (rural area) influenced the low content of suspended substances (TSS < 0.02 mg/L) and turbidity (< 4 NTU). Microfiltration allowed for the further removal of suspension particles with sizes larger than 0.45 μm and with efficiency greater than 60%. Granulometric analysis indicated that physical properties of suspended particles vary with the season and weather. During spring, particles with an average size of 500 μm predominated, while in autumn particles were much smaller (10 μm). However, Silt Density Index measurements confirmed that even a small amount of suspended solids can contribute to the fouling of membranes (SDI > 5). Therefore, rainwater cannot be purified by microfiltration without an appropriate pretreatment.

Lamellar gel networks are creamy formulations extensively used in cosmetics and pharmaceutics. The basic units of these networks are lipid bilayers assembled from mixtures of fatty alcohols, surfactants, and water. Despite being an essential step for the preparation of the dispersions, the nature of the mixtures at high temperature has defied understanding. Here we show, by atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, that aqueous mixtures of cetyl (C_{16}OH) and stearyl (C_{18}OH) alcohols, and cetyl-trimethylammonium chloride (CTAC), lead to fluid bilayers, which are the units of the lamellar L_{α} phase. By providing a consistent numerical simulation model able to describe the structure and properties of fatty alcohol lamellae stabilized by a surfactant, our work paves the way for the elucidation of the forces regulating this family of industrially important gels.

Competition is a central part of the evolutionary process, and silicification is no exception: between biomineralized and non-biomineralized organisms, between siliceous and non-siliceous biomineralizing organisms, and between different silicifying groups. Here we discuss evolutionary competition at various scales, and how this has affected biogeochemical cycles of silicon, carbon, and other nutrients. Across geological time we examine how fossils, sediments, and isotopic geochemistry can provide evidence for the emergence and expansion of silica biomineralization in the ocean, and competition between silicifying organisms for silicic acid. Metagenomic data from marine environments can be used to illustrate evolutionary competition between groups of silicifying and non-silicifying marine organisms. Modern ecosystems also provide examples of arms races between silicifiers as predators and prey, and how silicification can be used to provide a competitive advantage for obtaining resources. Through studying the molecular biology of silicifying and non-silicifying species we can relate how they have responded to the competitive interactions that are observed, and how solutions have evolved through convergent evolutionary dynamics.

Título original: “Un dibattito sulla storia delle idee”, Rivista di storia della storiografia moderna, año XI, No. 3, septiembre-diciembre de 1990, pp. 159-199. En octubre de 1987, en el Instituto de Filosofía de la Universidad de Roma, La Sapienza, se realizó un seminario organizado conjuntamente por el Lessico Intellettuale Europeo y el Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici de Nápoles, y patrocinado por la Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Las actas del seminario fueron recopiladas en Storia delle idee. Problemi e prospettive (Roma, Edizioni dell’Ateneo, 1989). El texto que publicamos consta de la introducción al libro, realizada por Massimo Bianchi, y el debate conclusivo del seminario. [Traducción: Horacio Pons.]

In a context of strong financial, environmental and energy constraints, to reduce the consumption of fossil energy in the field of transport becomes not only an emergency but imposes a paradigm shift in terms of transport policy. It is not sufficient today to improve the supply, to target travel demand and stimulate behavior change becomes necessary. In particular, commuting structuring mobility practices also strongly contributes to CO2 emissions. By combining census data and household travel surveys in two different urban areas, Lille and Lyon, our aim is first to measure the CO2 emissions related to commuting and secondly, to identify the most emitting CO2 zone from the point of view of the residences and jobs location in the two contexts. The results are discussed in a perspective of enlargement and improvement of collective approaches (Company or Inter-company Travel Plans) focused on home-work migration. They highlight some explaining factors but also the role that could take the urban form in the reduction of CO2 emissions, through the centralities and the functional specialization.

Aims: Aortic valve calcification (AVC) of surgical valve bioprostheses (BPs) has been poorly explored. We aimed to evaluate in vivo and ex vivo BP AVCs and its prognosis value., Methods and Results: Between 2011 and 2019, AVC was assessed using in vivo computed tomography (CT) in 361 patients who had undergone surgical valve replacement 6.4 ± 4.3 years earlier. Ex vivo CT scans were performed for 37 explanted BPs. The in vivo CT scans were interpretable for 342 patients (19 patients [5.2%] were excluded). These patients were 77.2 ± 9.1 years old, and 64.3% were male. Mean in vivo AVC was 307 ± 500 Agatston units (AU). The AVC was 562 ± 570 AU for the 183 (53.5%) patients with structural valve degeneration (SVD) and 13 ± 43 AU for those without SVD (P < 0.0001). In vivo and ex vivo AVCs were strongly correlated (r = 0.88, P < 0.0001). An in vivo AVC > 100 AU (n = 147, 43%) had a specificity of 96% for diagnosing Stage 2-3 SVD (area under the curve = 0.92). Patients with AVC > 100 AU had a worse outcome compared with those with AVC ≤ 100 AU (n = 195). In multivariable analysis, AVC was a predictor of overall mortality (hazard ratio [HR] and 95% confidence interval = 1.16 [1.04-1.29]; P = 0.006), cardiovascular mortality (HR = 1.22 [1.04-1.43]; P = 0.013), cardiovascular events (HR = 1.28 [1.16-1.41]; P < 0.0001), and re-intervention (HR = 1.15 [1.06-1.25]; P < 0.0001). After adjustment for Stage 2-3 SVD diagnosis, AVC remained a predictor of overall mortality (HR = 1.20 [1.04-1.39]; P = 0.015) and cardiovascular events (HR = 1.25 [1.09-1.43]; P = 0.001)., Conclusion: CT scan is a reliable tool to assess BP leaflet calcification. An AVC > 100 AU is tightly associated with SVD and it is a strong predictor of overall mortality and cardiovascular events., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: T.L.T. and J.-Christ R. received a basic research grant from Abbott-St Jude company dedicated to a mitral valve prolapse project. The other authors have no disclosure., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Buruli ulcer is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. The pathogen persistence in host skin is associated with the development of ulcerative and necrotic lesions leading to permanent disabilities in most patients. However, few of diagnosed cases are thought to resolve through an unknown self-healing process. Using in vitro and in vivo mouse models and M. ulcerans purified vesicles and mycolactone, we showed that the development of an innate immune tolerance was only specific to macrophages from mice able to heal spontaneously. This tolerance mechanism depends on a type I interferon response and can be induced by interferon beta. A type I interferon signature was further detected during in vivo infection in mice as well as in skin samples from patients under antibiotics regiment. Our results indicate that type I interferon-related genes expressed in macrophages may promote tolerance and healing during infection with skin damaging pathogen., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Bernard et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Ancestral signaling pathways serve critical roles in metazoan development, physiology, and immunity. We report an evolutionary interspecies communication pathway involving a central Ixodes scapularis tick receptor termed Dome1, which acquired a mammalian cytokine receptor motif exhibiting high affinity for interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). Host-derived IFN-γ facilitates Dome1-mediated activation of the Ixodes JAK-STAT pathway. This accelerates tick blood meal acquisition and development while upregulating antimicrobial components. The Dome1-JAK-STAT pathway, which exists in most Ixodid tick genomes, regulates the regeneration and proliferation of gut cells-including stem cells-and dictates metamorphosis through the Hedgehog and Notch-Delta networks, ultimately affecting Ixodes vectorial competence. We highlight the evolutionary dependence of I. scapularis on mammalian hosts through cross-species signaling mechanisms that dually influence arthropod immunity and development.

During an epidemic period, we compared patients hospitalized for initial suspicion of COVID-19 but for whom an alternative diagnosis was finally retained (n = 152) with those who had COVID-19 (n = 222). Most common diagnoses were another infectious disease and heart failure. COVID-19-negative patients were more often active smokers had less often cough, fever, and digestive symptoms, as compared to the 222 COVID-19-positive patients. They had higher median neutrophil and lymphocyte counts and lower CRP level. In multivariate analysis, no current smoking, neurocognitive disorder, myalgia, and fibrinogen ≥4g/L were independently associated with a final diagnosis of COVID-19., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Borrelia burgdorferi , the causative agent of Lyme disease, is transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. Once inoculated into the host dermis, it disseminates to various organs including distant skin sites, the heart, the joint and the nervous system. Most humans will develop an early skin manifestation called erythema migrans at the tick bite site. This can be followed by symptoms such as carditis, neuritis, meningitis, or arthritis if not treated. A specific mouse strain, C3H/HeN develops arthritis with B. burgdorferi infection whereas another strain, C57BL/6, develops minimal to no arthritis. Neither strain of mice show any skin signs of rash or inflammation. Factors that determine the presence of skin inflammation and the joint arthritis susceptibility in the host are only partially characterized. We show in this study that murine fibroblast-like synoviocytes display trained immunity, a program in some cells that results in increased inflammatory responses if the cell has previously come in contact with a stimulus, and that trained immunity in fibroblast-like synoviocytes tested ex vivo correlates with Lyme arthritis susceptibility. Conversely, skin fibroblasts do not exhibit trained immunity, which correlates with the absence of skin symptoms in these mice. Moreover, we demonstrate that the trained phenotype in FLS is affected by the cell environment, which depends on the host genetic background. Future studies expanding this initial report of the role of trained immunity on symptoms of B. burgdorferi infection may provide insight into the pathogenesis of disease in murine models., (Copyright © 2020 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.)

Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Borrelia burgdorferi conserved gene products BB0406 and BB0405, members of a common B. burgdorferi paralogous gene family, share 59% similarity. Although both gene products can function as potential porins, only BB0405 is essential for infection. Here we show that, despite sequence homology and coexpression from the same operon, both proteins differ in their membrane localization attributes, antibody accessibility, and immunogenicity in mice. BB0406 is required for spirochete survival in mammalian hosts, particularly for the disseminated infection in distant organs. We identified that BB0406 interacts with laminin, one of the major constituents of the vascular basement membrane, and facilitates spirochete transmigration across host endothelial cell barriers. A better understanding of how B. burgdorferi transmigrates through dermal and tissue vascular barriers and establishes disseminated infections will contribute to the development of novel therapeutics to combat early infection., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The skin plays a key role in vector-borne diseases because it is the site where the arthropod coinoculates pathogens and its saliva. Lyme borreliosis, particularly well investigated in this context, is a multisystemic infectious disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and transmitted by the hard tick Ixodes. Numerous in vitro studies were conducted to better understand the role of specific skin cells and tick saliva in host defense, vector feeding, and pathogen transmission. The skin was also evidenced in various animal models as the site of bacterial multiplication and persistence. We present the achievements in this field as well as the gaps that impede comprehensive knowledge of the disease pathophysiology and the development of efficient diagnostic tools and vaccines in humans., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the mechanism of pathogen transmission is essential for the development of strategies to reduce arthropod-borne diseases. The pharmaco- and immunomodulatory properties of insect and acarine saliva play an essential role in the efficiency of pathogen transmission. The skin as the site where arthropod saliva and pathogens are inoculated - represents the key interface in vector-borne diseases. We identified tick molecules potentially involved in pathogen transmission, using micro-HPLC and mass spectrometry, followed by in vitro assays on human skin cells. Histone H4 isolated from Ixodes ricinus salivary gland extract was identified as a molecule with a dissociating effect on human primary fibroblasts. This histone might be involved in the formation of the feeding pool formed around the tick mouthparts and responsible of tissue necrosis in the vertebrate host. Thanks to its selective antimicrobial activity, it may also sterilize the feeding pool and facilitate transmission of pathogens such as Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Borrelia burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme disease that persists in a complex enzootic life cycle, involving Ixodes ticks and vertebrate hosts. The microbe invades ticks and vertebrate hosts in spite of active immune surveillance and potent microbicidal responses, and establishes long-term infection utilising mechanisms that are yet to be unravelled. The pathogen can cause multi-system disorders when transmitted to susceptible mammalian hosts, including in humans. In the past decades, several studies identified a limited number of B. burgdorferi gene-products critical for pathogen persistence, transmission between the vectors and the host, and host-pathogen interactions. This review will focus on the interactions between B. burgdorferi proteins, as well as between microbial proteins and host components, protein and non-protein components, highlighting their roles in pathogen persistence in the mammalian host. A better understanding of the contributions of protein interactions in the microbial virulence and persistence of B. burgdorferi would support development of novel therapeutics against the infection., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)