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The purpose of this instrumental multiple case study was to examine and compare five inservice music teachers' and one administrator's perceptions of three school-university partnership programs, in various stages of development, across one semester. Data sources included participants' observation notes, researchers' field notes, and individual semi-structured interviews. The following themes emerged from the data: (a) benefits of reinforcement, (b) benefits of promoting best practice and research, (c) challenges of navigating multiple teachers, (d) challenges of time management, and (e) observed differences between partnerships. Participants offered the following suggestions to implement and sustain successful partnerships: (a) preservice music educator preparation, including preparation in music planning, responsive teaching, and developing student connections, and (b) logistics, including increased communication, understanding all aspects of full-time music teaching, and expanding the number of visits. Implications for practice include engaging stakeholders in equal planning, reflection, and evaluation to create mutually beneficial partnership experiences.

The purpose of this collaborative action research project was to examine eighth- and ninth-grade female (assigned at birth) students' perspectives of their singing voice when implementing a practitioner/researcher designed curriculum titled "Supporting Adolescent Female Vocal Development: Teaching Anatomy and Physiology in the Middle School Choral Classroom." The curriculum, designed specifically for the adolescent female voice, contained the following four units: the respiratory system, the larynx, the digestive system, and the skeletal system. The action research method, which contained four feedback loops, allowed us to assess, refine, and revise the curriculum to meet the needs of this specific group of adolescents. Salient themes that emerged from the data included participants' perceptions of breath, passaggio, vocal range, vocal tone, feedback, and confidence. Overall, participants reported positive experiences throughout the unit; however, challenges emerged when we provided individual feedback and introduced complex terminology associated with vocal anatomy. Implications for practice include prioritizing a process-oriented curriculum theoretically grounded in the anatomy and physiology of the voice to serve the needs of adolescent singers.

The study described a mentoring program of a state-funded research and its effects on research and reflective practices to graduate students. Participatory Action Research (PAR), designed as a methodical and program framework, engaged nine mentors (researchers of a state-funded research) and 29 graduate students (purposively invited) to training-based mentoring (workshops and field work), small group mentoring (within research cells), and peer mentoring (field work and software-aided coding analysis). Observations, mentors' narrations, and reflection journals extracted the experiences of the participants on the mentoring program. These reflections revealed that mentors and mentees learned many skills in the mentoring program. They had transformed challenges and difficulties (time management, field work) into learning episodes leading to reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. They realized the importance of the theory-practice-reflection paradigm in all research endeavors. Hence, PAR-influenced mentoring helped develop their research skills. However, low engagement of the others may be due to time aspect, which may be looked into in a replicated study.

The purpose of this service-learning action research study was to develop and investigate after-school individualised vocal lessons for secondary students aged 14-18 years (n = 15) taught by preservice music educators (PMEs) (n = 12) in the United States. In service learning, all parties should benefit from the experience while addressing curricular and community needs. Therefore, our intentions were to: (a) improve secondary student preparedness for solo experiences, (b) provide an authentic teaching experience to improve the quality of instruction given by PMEs, and (c) develop a mutually beneficial and collaborative service-learning experience. The following themes emerged from the data: (a) perceptions of teaching disposition -- such as confidence, interpersonal skills and enthusiasm; (b) perceptions of teaching skills -- such as student engagement, questioning techniques and responsive teaching; and (c) perceptions of pedagogical content knowledge -- such as vocal anatomy, physiology and pedagogy.

Quality of vaccines is an imperative factor to guarantee success and effectiveness of vaccination programs.This study was done to verify if bivalent vaccine (Live attenuated measles and rubella vaccine U.S.P.)used during the National Vaccination Campaign in 2005, maintained the specifications of 1000 DICT 50.Six vials per vaccine lot were used. Samples were obtained from different regions of the country. Protocoldescribed in the Manual of Laboratory Methods for testing vaccines used in the WHO Expanded Programmeof Immunization was used. Titer vaccine in TCID 50 was calculated by the Reed-Muench method and anhypothesis test for mean TCID 50 obtained in the titration was performed to determine if it was greater orequal to the one reported by manufacturer. Additionally, a correlation analysis was done calculatinginterlot agreement correlation index (δc). Titers obtained in potency tests showed very low agreementbetween different lots, as well as between titers obtained from vials of the same vaccine lot. This variationin titers can occur due to factors like maintenance of cold chain during storage, transportation or distributionof vaccine through different vaccination points in the country. The technique used to determine thepotency of vaccines, was suitable, and can be used by the National Regulatory Authorities, to perform teststo determine quality of vaccines.

In order to standardize methodologies that allow to determine the concentration of nitrifying and denitrifyingbacteria in compost, bacteria growth was evaluated at two different concentrations of nitrogen substrate(NH 4)2 SO4 and KNO3), with and without calcium carbonate. Technique used was the most probablenumber (MPN), revealing the tubes by means Griess reagent (nitrite), Nessler reagent (ammonium), andthe zinc powder (nitrate). Four treatments for nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria were applied respectively,with concentrations of 0,5 or 0,33 g of (NH4) 2SO4 and 0,5 or 2g of KNO3. Biomass production wasevaluated. No significant differences were evidenced in biomass of days14 th,15th and 16th for nitrifyingbacteria; however, 15 th day 115.88 MPN/g of compost was obtained for nitrifying bacteria, and 31.42MPN/g for denitrifying bacteria. Treatment 1 (0.5g of (NH4)2SO4 with 1g of CaCO3) in nitrifying and 0.5gof KNO3 with 5g of CaCO3 in denitrifying group represent the best biomass condition: 112.67 MPN/g and27.53 MPN/g of compost. 15 days were necessary for incubation because it is the time needed to activateenzymes regulating pH with addition of the CaCO3.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the productivity on agar-agar of two species of red algae of thegenera Gracilaria belonging from the Colombiam Caribean coast (G. cylindrica and G. mammillaris)obtained in laboratory. Productivity of culture media elaborated with base agar - agar was determinedusing the ecometric method with 20 different bacterial species. Results obtained from ICA and ICRshowed that agar extracted from Gracilaria cylindrica and Gracillaria mammillaris are equally productive,this shows that both species can be used for agar production. For better results, it is still necessary tooptimize extraction processes and purification of agar in both species of algae.

Infection of Helicobacter pylori since its discovery by Australian doctors Barry Marshall and RobinWarren in 1982 has been one of the scientific phenomena of greater importance in world-wide biomedicalliterature. Since then, numerous investigations have been developed to study this bacterium because itplays a significant role in etiology and pathogenesis of diverse gastrointestinal diseases like chronicgastritis and peptic ulcer, in addition to being a factor of important risk for development of gastric cancer.Cultivation is the most specific method to diagnose this microorganism. Despite its sensibility it variesnotably in relation to different variables: collection, transport and storage of samples; cultivation mediaand incubation conditions. This work evaluated the productivity of three culture media for H. pylorirecovery by ecometric method. All culture media showed low productivity. ICA values were lower than2,5 on all cultivation media. Culture media with ICA values of low and mid production were: Agar ATS:7,6% and 92,3%, Agar BHI: 0% and 100%, Agar Brucella: 6,6% and 93,3%.

Abstract The rs6265 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a common variant that alters therapeutic outcomes for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). We previously investigated the effects of this SNP on the experimental therapeutic approach of neural grafting, demonstrating that young adult parkinsonian rats carrying the variant Met allele exhibited enhanced graft function compared to wild-type rats and also exclusively developed aberrant graft-induced dyskinesias (GID). Aging is the primary risk factor for PD and reduces graft efficacy. Here we investigated whether aging interacts with this SNP to further alter cell transplantation outcomes. We hypothesized that aging would reduce enhancement of graft function associated with this genetic variant and exacerbate GID in all grafted subjects. Unexpectedly, beneficial graft function was maintained in aged rs6265 subjects. However, aging was permissive to GID induction, regardless of genotype, with the greatest incidence and severity found in rs6265-expressing animals.

Este trabajo validó la técnica de PCR para la detección de L. monocytogenes a partir de ADN de cultivos puros y en muestras de leches crudas, quesos frescos, carne de res y carne de pollo. En DNA de cultivos puros la sensibilidad, la especificidad y la reproducibilidad encontrada fue de 100%, 101UFC/ml y K=1,respectivamente. Para la extracción del ADN de los alimentos se emplearon dos métodos, el primero, basado en la precipitación alcohólica en presencia de NaI, lo que redujo en gran medida las grasas; permitiendo la detección directa de 10 1 UFC/ml en leche cruda y 105 UFC/g en queso fresco. El segundo método, basado en la extracción con lisozima, proteinasa K y fenol-cloroformo, permitió establecer límites de detección de 102 y 104 UFC/g para las carnes de res y pollo respectivamente. La PCR se basó enla especificidad de los iniciadores LI1/U1 que amplificaron una banda de 938 pb (identificación de género) característica del rDNA 16S y los iniciadores LF/LR que amplificaron una banda de 750 pbcaracterística del gen hlyA (identificación de especie). Los resultados de la validación reportaron con relación al método “Gold Standard” una reproducibilidad, sensibilidad y especificidad del 100% en leches crudas. Para las muestras de queso frescos se reportó una reproducibilidad de 97%, sensibilidad 96.3% y especificidad del 100%, para la carne de pollo la reproducibilidad fue 98.43%, sensibilidad96.9%, especificidad 100%, valor predictivo positivo 100% y valor predictivo negativo 100%, para la carne de res todos los parámetros fueron 100%. El método “Gold Standard” reportó 100% para todos losparámetros. El trabajo muestra que ambas técnicas pueden ser utilizadas para detectar L. monocytogenes en este tipo de alimentos y que la PCR reduce el tiempo de ensayo considerablemente.

Con el fin de determinar una posible incidencia de microorganismos mesófilos en la producción del agua de bebida envasada, se analizaron los factores más importantes implicados en la producción. Para determinar la calidad del agua, se almacenó en diferentes tipos de envases (policarbonato, vidrio, polietileno de alta densidad (PAD), polietileno de baja densidad (PBD) y polipropileno coextruído con polietileno (PCP), y posteriormente se realizaron recuentos totales para microorganismos mesófilos y número más probable paracoliformes totales y Pseudomona aeruginosa obteniéndose menores recuentos en el agua envasada en vidrio. Posteriormente, se compararon los tratamientos de descontaminación del agua (cloraciónozonización) utilizando dos tipos de envase (PBD y PCP), para determinar el material y tratamiento que conservan mejor las características organolépticas-fisicoquimicas y la menor incidencia de microorganismos mesófilos durante el tiempo de almacenamiento del producto. El envase más adecuado es el de PCP de calibre 2,5 con el tratamiento de cloro 0,6 pm; también se demostró que el crecimiento bacteria no fue un producto más del almacenamiento y el tipo de envase, ya que al realizar el muestre0 de los sistemas de producción, el agua fue siempre potable. Finalmente, se realizó un panel de saboreo, obteniéndose una preferencia del 80% de los encuestados, hacia el envase de PCP con el tratamiento de cloro.

Abstract Understanding the response of plant respiration to climate change is key to determining whether the global land carbon sink continues into the future or declines. Most global vegetation models use a classical growth-maintenance approach, which predicts that nocturnal plant respiration is controlled by temperature only. However, recently published observations of plant respiration show a decline through the night even at constant temperature, which these global models cannot reproduce. Here we assess the role of respiratory substrates in this observed decline by evaluating an alternative model of plant respiration, in which the rate of respiration at constant temperature is instead dependent on the size of available substrate pools. We find that the observed decline in nocturnal respiration is reproduced by a model with just two substrate pools, one fast and one slow. These results demonstrate a need to change the way that plant respiration is represented in global vegetation models, moving to models based on labile pools which represent only a fraction of total plant biomass. These models naturally represent plant acclimation via changing pool-sizes and may have a significant impact on the long-term predictions of the global land carbon sink.

Abstract The Amazon is the largest continuous tropical forest in the world and plays a key role in the global carbon cycle. Human-induced disturbances and climate change have impacted the Amazon carbon balance. Here we conduct a comprehensive synthesis of existing state-of-the-art estimates of the contemporary land carbon fluxes in the Amazon using a set of bottom-up methods (i.e., dynamic vegetation models and bookkeeping models) and a top-down inversion (atmospheric inversion model) over the Brazilian Amazon and the whole Biogeographical Amazon domain. Over the whole biogeographical Amazon region bottom-up methodologies suggest a small average carbon sink over 2010-2020, in contrast to a small carbon source simulated by top-down inversion (2010-2018). However, these estimates are not significantly different from one another when accounting for their large individual uncertainties, highlighting remaining knowledge gaps, and the urgent need to reduce such uncertainties. Nevertheless, both methodologies agreed that the Brazilian Amazon has been a net carbon source during recent climate extremes and that the south-eastern Amazon was a net land carbon source over the whole study period (2010-2020). Overall, our results point to increasing human-induced disturbances (deforestation and forest degradation by wildfires) and reduction in the old-growth forest sink during drought.

A peptide-based hydrogel sequence was computationally predicted from the Ala-rich cross-linked domains of elastin. Three candidate peptides were subsequently synthesised and characterised as potential drug delivery vehicles. The elastin-derived peptides are Fmoc-FFAAAAKAA-NH2, Fmoc-FFAAAKAA-NH2, and Fmoc-FFAAAKAAA-NH2. All three peptide sequences were able to self-assemble into nanofibers. However, only the first two could form hydrogels, which are preferred as delivery systems compared to solutions. Both of these peptides also exhibited favourable nanofiber lengths of at least 1.86 and 4.57 µm, respectively, which are beneficial for the successful delivery and stability of drugs. The shorter fibre lengths of the third peptide (maximum 0.649 µm) could have inhibited their self-assembly into the three-dimensional networks crucial to hydrogel formation.

Abstract The botanical exploration of Bolivia during the last two centuries did not leave a botanical legacy in the country. Only towards the end of the 20th century Bolivia saw the start of the biology careers at its universities and the development of its own herbaria. Nowadays there are important herbaria in La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and Sucre with collections ranging between 40,000 and 350,000 specimens. In 2014 a catalogue of the vascular flora of Bolivia was published under the auspices of the Missouri Botanical Garden, recording 15,345 species, of which 12,165 are native and 2,343 are endemic, while 694 are cultivated, 267 adventitious and 221 are naturalized. Endemic species of vascular plants add up to 2,343 species. The 286 families listed follow the APG III classification system. There are about 150 botanists in Bolivia interested in studying the country's rich flora. During a workshop organized in 2013 to promote a Flora of Bolivia, the participants established jointly a preliminary format for the taxonomic treatments. The Flora of Bolivia is planned to be an electronic, open access publication with international participation. The World Flora represents a challenge that must be tackled by circumscribing, verifying and recording all species known within our territory, and it is expected that it will have positive repercussions from and towards the ongoing Flora of Bolivia, in a similar way as the long running series of the Flora Neotropica has provided a wider picture that can be adapted and modified to fit our particular country.

Abstract The lack of disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is in part due to an incomplete understanding of the disease’s etiology. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) has become a point of focus in PD due to its connection to both familial and idiopathic cases—specifically its localization to Lewy bodies (LBs), a pathological hallmark of PD. Within this review, we will present a comprehensive overview of the data linking synuclein-associated Lewy pathology with intracellular dysfunction. We first present the alterations in neuronal proteins and transcriptome associated with LBs in postmortem human PD tissue. We next compare these findings to those associated with LB-like inclusions initiated by in vitro exposure to α-syn preformed fibrils (PFFs) and highlight the profound and relatively unique reduction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in this model. Finally, we discuss the multitude of ways in which BDNF offers the potential to exert disease-modifying effects on the basal ganglia. What remains unknown is the potential for BDNF to mitigate inclusion-associated dysfunction within the context of synucleinopathy. Collectively, this review reiterates the merit of using the PFF model as a tool to understand the physiological changes associated with LBs, while highlighting the neuroprotective potential of harnessing endogenous BDNF.

Tomato is the main vegetable cultivated under soilless culture systems (SCSs); production of organic tomato under SCSs has increased due to consumer demands for healthier and environmentally friendly vegetables. However, organic tomato production under SCSs has been associated with low crop performance and fruit quality defects. These agricultural deficiencies could be linked to alterations in tomato plant microbiota; nonetheless, this issue has not been sufficiently addressed. Thus, the main goal of the present study was to characterize the rhizosphere and phyllosphere of tomato plants cultivated under conventional and organic SCSs. To accomplish this goal, tomato plants grown in commercial greenhouses under conventional or organic SCSs were tested at 8, 26, and 44 weeks after seedling transplantation. Substrate (n = 24), root (n = 24), and fruit (n = 24) composite samples were subjected to DNA extraction and high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The present study revealed that the tomato core microbiota was predominantly constituted by Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes. Remarkably, six bacterial families, Bacillaceae, Microbacteriaceae, Nocardioidaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, and Sphingomonadaceae, were shared among all substrate, rhizosphere, and fruit samples. Importantly, it was shown that plants under organic SCSs undergo a dysbiosis characterized by significant changes in the relative abundance of Bradyrhizobiaceae, Caulobacteraceae, Chitinophagaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Erythrobacteraceae, Flavobacteriaceae, Nocardioidaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, and Streptomycetaceae. These results suggest that microbial alterations in substrates, roots, and fruits could be potential factors in contributing to the crop performance and fruit quality deficiencies observed in organic SCSs.

Hydrophobicity is an important physicochemical property of peptides in solution. As well as being strongly associated with peptide stability and aggregation, hydrophobicity governs the solution based chromatographic separation processes, specifically reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). In addition, hydrophobicity is a major physicochemical property of peptides in comparison to H-bonding, electrostatic, and aromatic properties in intermolecular interactions. However, a wide range of molecular factors can influence peptide hydrophobicity, with accurate predictions depending on specific peptide amino acid compositions, structure, and conformation. It is noticeable that peptide composition, the position of the amino acid, and its neighbouring groups play a crucial role in the elution process. In light of this, the same amino acid behaved differently depending on its position and neighbouring amino acid in the peptide chain. Extra attention should be paid to the denaturation process during the course of elution, as it has been shown to complicate and alter the elution pattern. This paper reports on the key peptide properties that can alter hydrophobicity and, consequently, the RPLC elution behaviour of the peptides, and it will conclude by proposing improved prediction algorithms for peptide elution in RPLC.

Red drupelet reversion (RDR) is a physiological disorder in which blackberry drupelets revert from black to red, losing their commercial value. RDR has been associated with mechanical damage caused by vibrations during transport. The goal of the present study was to construct a portable vibration system to quantify RDR progression in different blackberry cultivars. The system was integrated with an electrical signal generator, a monoaural amplifier, a subwoofer type speaker, and an oscilloscope. This system generates vibration intensities reached during fruit commercial transport (10 Hz and 0.5 g’s). To induce RDR, blackberry clamshells cv. ‘Tupi’ were placed in the portable system and subjected to different vibration times. RDR was observed immediately after fruit was subjected to 5 min vibration. To evaluate RDR progression in different cultivars, blackberry clamshells ‘Ak234′, ‘Am151′, and ‘Tupi’ were subjected to vibration during different times; and analyzed after storage (0 to 5 d). ‘Tupi’ blackberries reverted more rapidly than ‘Am151′ and ‘Ak234′ cultivars, suggesting that ‘Tupi’ was more susceptible to RDR. These results highlight that portable vibration system could be a useful and fast tool to evaluate resistance to RDR in blackberries.

Enterobacteriaceae is one of the most important bacterial groups within the Proteobacteria phylum. This bacterial group includes pathogens, commensal and beneficial populations. Numerous 16S rRNA gene PCR-based assays have been designed to analyze Enterobacteriaceae diversity and relative abundance, and, to the best of our knowledge, 16 primer pairs have been validated, published and used since 2003. Nonetheless, a comprehensive performance analysis of these primer sets has not yet been carried out. This information is of particular importance due to the recent taxonomic restructuration of Enterobacteriaceae into seven bacterial families. To overcome this lack of information, the identified collection of primer pairs (n = 16) was subjected to primer performance analysis using multiple bioinformatics tools. Herein it was revealed that, based on specificity and coverage of the 16S rRNA gene, these 16 primer sets could be divided into different categories: Enterobacterales-, multi-family-, multi-genus- and Enterobacteriaceae-specific primers. These results highlight the impact of taxonomy changes on performance of molecular assays and data interpretation. Moreover, they underline the urgent need to revise and update the molecular tools used for molecular microbial analyses.