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Introduction Mentalization-based therapy (MBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) are two treatments known to be effective for borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, head-to-head comparisons between those two treatments are scarce and their effectiveness in naturalistic clinical services, where BPD is often comorbid with other cluster B personality disorders (PD), needs to be further explored. Objectives The study’s goal was to answer the following question: Is there a difference in emergency department visits, hospitalizations and dropout rates after one year of treatment in MBT compared to DBT for a clinical adult population with cluster B PD? Methods We compared the effectiveness of MBT and DBT in 288 patients between 2015 and 2019 with at least one cluster B PD by measuring their emergency services use and hospitalizations one year before and one year after beginning therapy. Drop-out rates for those two treatment modalities are also compared. Image 1 illustrates the patient distribution for the study. Results In terms of reducing emergency room use, patients in each treatment group experienced a significant decrease with medium effect sizes (p < .001 for both, d=.768 for MBT and d=.640 for DBT). In terms of reducing hospitalizations, the MBT group had a significant decrease (p < .05) with a medium effect size (d=.568) whereas the DBT group had a non-significant decrease (p = .595) with a negligible effect size (d=.140). When we compare both therapies, no significant differences were found between them in terms of reductions in emergency room use (p = .358) and hospitalizations (p =.195), as well as dropout rates (p = .743). Image 2 further illustrates the dropout trends in the first year of treatment for both groups in intervals of 3 months. Hospitalizations were rare in our population, which may hinder the validity of results containing this variable. In absolute numbers, total emergency room visits decreased from 119 to 37, whereas hospitalizations were reduced from 24 to 12. Drop-out rates before entering treatment were high (20.6%), as it was during treatment for both therapies (around 30% in the first year of treatment). Image: Image 2: Conclusions This study emphasizes that both DBT and MBT are linked to a reduction in service use over time. Dropout rates in both treatments are also similar to other studies. Therefore, future research should investigate the factors that can help clinicians guide individuals with PDs towards the type of therapy that is most suitable for them. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

Introduction Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels are reported to be inversely associated with diabetes risk. It is unknown whether diabetes prevention interventions increase SHBG and whether resultant changes in SHBG affect diabetes risk. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether intensive lifestyle intervention (ILS) or metformin changed circulating SHBG and if resultant changes influenced diabetes risk in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).Research design and methods This is a secondary analysis from the DPP (1996–2001), a randomized trial of ILS or metformin versus placebo on diabetes risk over a mean follow-up of 3.2 years. The DPP was conducted across 27 academic study centers in the USA. Men, premenopausal and postmenopausal women without hormone use in the DPP were evaluated. The DPP included overweight/obese persons with elevated fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance. Main outcomes measures were changes in SHBG levels at 1 year and risk of diabetes over 3 years.Results ILS resulted in significantly higher increases (postmenopausal women: p

The objectives of this prospective study were to explore the health-related lifestyle of police cadets and assess changes in their health behaviors following entry into the police force. To do so, 190 police cadets completed an online questionnaire assessing their physical activity level, sedentary behaviors, diet quality, sleep hygiene, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and stress level. One year following their graduation from the police training program, participants were invited to, once again, complete the questionnaire. Our results suggest that police cadets generally display healthy lifestyles, with very few cadets being physically inactive, smokers, reporting insufficient sleep duration, and displaying obesity. Nevertheless, paired-sample comparisons highlighted significant decreases in physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, sleep duration, and sleep quality at the follow-up. Likewise, significant increases in fast-food consumption and BMI were observed.

We consider the one-dimensional deterministic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation in the regime of phase turbulence, where the order parameter displays a defect-free chaotic phase dynamics, which maps to the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, characterized by negative viscosity and a modulational instability at linear level. In this regime, the dynamical behavior of the large wavelength modes is captured by the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class, determining their universal scaling and their statistical properties. These modes exhibit the characteristic KPZ superdiffusive scaling with the dynamical critical exponent z=3/2. We present numerical evidence of the existence of an additional scale-invariant regime, with the dynamical exponent z=1, emerging at scales which are intermediate between the microscopic ones, intrinsic to the modulational instability, and the macroscopic ones. We argue that this new scaling regime belongs to the universality class corresponding to the inviscid limit of the KPZ equation.

Most in vitro models lack the capacity to fully probe bacterial phenotypes emerging from the complex interactions observed in real-life environments. This is particularly true in the context of hard-to-treat, chronic, and polymicrobial biofilm-based infections detected in the airways of individuals living with cystic fibrosis (CF), a multiorgan genetic disease. While multiple microbiome studies have defined the microbial compositions detected in the airway of people with CF (pwCF), no in vitro models thus far have fully integrated critical CF-relevant lung features. Therefore, a significant knowledge gap exists in the capacity to investigate the mechanisms driving the pathogenesis of mixed species CF lung infections. Here, we describe a recently developed four-species microbial community model, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Prevotella melaninogenica grown in CF-like conditions. Through the utilization of this system, clinically relevant phenotypes such as antimicrobial recalcitrance of several pathogens were observed and explored at the molecular level. The usefulness of this in vitro model resides in its standardized workflow that can facilitate the study of interspecies interactions in the context of chronic CF lung infections.

Whole genome characterizations of crop plants based on ancient DNA have provided unique keys for a better understanding of the evolutionary origins of modern cultivars, the pace and mode of selection underlying their adaptation to new environments and the production of phenotypes of interest. Although forests are among the most biologically rich ecosystems on earth and represent a fundamental resource for human societies, no ancient genome sequences have been generated for trees. This contrasts with the generation of multiple ancient reference genomes for important crops. Here, we sequenced the first ancient tree genomes using two white oak wood remains from Germany dating to the Last Little Ice Age (15th century CE, 7.3× and 4.0×) and one from France dating to the Bronze Age (1700 BCE, 3.4×). We assessed the underlying species and identified one medieval remains as a hybrid between two common oak species (Quercus robur and Q. petraea) and the other two remains as Q. robur. We found that diversity at the global genome level had not changed over time. However, exploratory analyses suggested that a reduction of diversity took place at different time periods. Finally, we determined the timing of leaf unfolding for ancient trees for the first time. The study extends the application of ancient wood beyond the classical proxies of dendroclimatology, dendrochronology, dendroarchaeology and dendroecology, thereby enhancing resolution of inferences on the responses of forest ecosystems to past environmental changes, epidemics and silvicultural practices., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Contextual variables associated with children's willingness to disclose sexual abuse have been identified in previous studies, but further investigation is needed to better understand delayed disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA)., Objectives: This study aimed to examine the factors associated with the risk of delayed disclosure of CSA. More specifically, it focused on a factor that has rarely, if ever, been looked into: the fact that some victims are led to perform sexual acts on the perpetrator., Participants and Setting: A content analysis was performed on 68 transcripts of investigative interviews with CSA victims aged 4 to 12 years old., Methods: Based on our content analysis, the time between the first abuse and the first disclosure was determined for each victim. The age and gender of the victim, the victim's relationship with the perpetrator, the age of the perpetrator, the frequency and severity of the abuse, and whether or not the victim mentioned having performed sexual acts on the perpetrator were also coded., Results: Chi-square analyses showed that the risk of delayed disclosure was associated with the victim's having performed, or not performed, sexual acts on the perpetrator (χ 2  = 16.327, p < 0.001), the victim's relationship with the perpetrator (χ 2  = 10.013, p = 0.002), and the frequency of the abuse (χ 2  = 11.617, p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Our study is the first to demonstrate that having been led to sexually touch the perpetrator is associated with delayed disclosure of CSA., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the interrelationship between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), occupational stress, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in law enforcement officers (LEOs)., Methods: A total of 229 LEOs completed a survey assessing their LTPA level, occupational stress, and CVD risk factors., Results: After adjusting for age and sex, physically inactive LEOs are more likely to have one or more CVD risk factors. While high occupational stress was associated with greater odds of CVD risk factors in physically inactive LEOs, stress was not significantly associated with the prevalence of CVD risk factors in active LEOs., Conclusions: Our results suggest that occupational stress is associated with the prevalence of CVD risk factors in LEOs. Nevertheless, LTPA might have the potential to mitigate the impact of occupational stress on CVD risk factors., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: None declared., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)

Background: The use of omics data for monitoring the microbial flow of fresh meat products along a production line and the development of spoilage prediction tools from these data is a promising but challenging task. In this context, we produced a large multivariate dataset (over 600 samples) obtained on the production lines of two similar types of fresh meat products (poultry and raw pork sausages). We describe a full analysis of this dataset in order to decipher how the spoilage microbial ecology of these two similar products may be shaped differently depending on production parameter characteristics., Methods: Our strategy involved a holistic approach to integrate unsupervised and supervised statistical methods on multivariate data (OTU-based microbial diversity; metabolomic data of volatile organic compounds; sensory measurements; growth parameters), and a specific selection of potential uncontrolled (initial microbiota composition) or controlled (packaging type; lactate concentration) drivers., Results: Our results demonstrate that the initial microbiota, which is shown to be very different between poultry and pork sausages, has a major impact on the spoilage scenarios and on the effect that a downstream parameter such as packaging type has on the overall evolution of the microbial community. Depending on the process, we also show that specific actions on the pork meat (such as deboning and defatting) elicit specific food spoilers such as Dellaglioa algida, which becomes dominant during storage. Finally, ecological network reconstruction allowed us to map six different metabolic pathways involved in the production of volatile organic compounds involved in spoilage. We were able connect them to the different bacterial actors and to the influence of packaging type in an overall view. For instance, our results demonstrate a new role of Vibrionaceae in isopropanol production, and of Latilactobacillus fuchuensis and Lactococcus piscium in methanethiol/disylphide production. We also highlight a possible commensal behavior between Leuconostoc carnosum and Latilactobacillus curvatus around 2,3-butanediol metabolism., Conclusion: We conclude that our holistic approach combined with large-scale multi-omic data was a powerful strategy to prioritize the role of production parameters, already known in the literature, that shape the evolution and/or the implementation of different meat spoilage scenarios., 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., (Copyright © 2023 Poirier, Coeuret, Champomier-Vergès, Desmonts, Werner, Feurer, Frémaux, Guillou, Luong, Rué, Loux, Zagorec, Chaillou and on the behalf of the ANR Redlosses Consortium Group.)

Assistive robots are tools that people living with upper body disabilities can leverage to autonomously perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Unfortunately, conventional control methods still rely on low-dimensional, easy-to-implement interfaces such as joysticks that tend to be unintuitive and cumbersome to use. In contrast, vocal commands may represent a viable and intuitive alternative. This work represents an important step toward providing a viable vocal interface for people living with upper limb disabilities by proposing a novel lightweight vocal command recognition system. The proposed model leverages the MobileNet2 architecture, augmenting it with a novel approach to the self-attention mechanism, achieving a new state-of-the-art performance for Keyword Spotting (KWS) on the Google Speech Commands Dataset (GSCD). Moreover, this work presents a new dataset, referred to as the French Speech Commands Dataset (FSCD), comprising 4963 vocal command utterances. Using the GSCD as the source, we used Transfer Learning (TL) to adapt the model to this cross-language task. TL has been shown to significantly improve the model performance on the FSCD. The viability of the proposed approach is further demonstrated through real-life control of a robotic arm by four healthy participants using both the proposed vocal interface and a joystick.

Background : Although studies have assessed the impact of occupational risk factors on the health of law enforcement officers (LEO's), few have involved (LEO's) as informants in ways that allow their points of view to be heard directly. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the occupational health, safety, and wellness (OHSW) concerns of (LEO's). Methods : (LEO's) working in Quebec, Canada were invited to answer an open-ended question regarding their OHSW concerns. Using a multi-stage content analysis, the collected answers were analyzed and coded by two members of the research team to identify the most recurrent concerns of (LEO's). Findings : Five themes relating to the OHSW concerns of (LEO's) were identified, namely, the work schedule , occupational stress , work equipment , workplace health promotion , and operational risks . Furthermore, our analyses highlighted differences in the concerns of (LEO's) based on their level of experience and sex. Conclusions/Application to Practice : This study addresses a gap in the literature on the OHSW concerns from the perspective of (LEO's). Overall, our results support that the work schedule and occupational stress associated with law enforcement are the two most recurrent concerns of (LEO's). Thus, the results of this study further stress the need for police organizations to implement strategies and policies, which could mitigate the deleterious effects of these hazards on the overall wellness of (LEO's).

This study sought to investigate the evolution of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in career firefighters. A questionnaire was sent to a cohort of 233 Québec career firefighters in 2015 and 2021 to collect demographic and occupational information and the presence of CVD risk factors. Ninety-six (96) firefighters (1 female) responded to the questionnaire in 2015 and 2021. Body weight (2015: 88.3 ± 10.9, 2021: 89.6 ± 10.7 kg, p  = 0.01), body mass index (2015: 27.6 ± 3.2, 2021: 28.0 ± 3.0 kg/m 2 , p  = 0.01), number of CVD risk factors (2015: 1.1 ± 1.0, 2021: 1.3 ± 0.9 CVD risk factors, p  = 0.05), and proportion of firefighters with at least 1 CVD risk factor (2015: 71, 2021: 82%, p  = 0.02) increased. Overall, our results highlight an aggravation of several CVD risk factors in Québec career firefighters over the years.

Abstract: Poirier, S, Houle, J, Lajoie, C, and Trudeau, F. Cardiorespiratory fitness of police recruits: normative reference values and temporal trend. J Strength Cond Res 37(1): 207-212, 2023-Several studies have highlighted the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) among police officers. Given the longitudinal association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in early adulthood and later appearance of CVD, the identification of police recruits exhibiting lower CRF could allow the implementation of targeted CVD prevention strategies. Unfortunately, norm-referenced values for the CRF of Canadian police recruits are not yet available. Thus, this research aimed to provide norm-referenced values for the CRF of police recruits in the province of Quebec (Canada) and to evaluate the temporal trend in the CRF of police recruits over a 14-year period. First, a model was developed to estimate maximal oxygen consumption (V̇O2max) based on the results of the physical ability test (PAT) used for the recruitment of police officers in Quebec. Based on the previously developed model, the CRF of police recruits who completed the PAT from 2004 to 2017 was retrospectively assessed using administrative records. The analysis of 7,234 PAT results including 2,150 females (29.7%) and 5,084 males (70.3%) suggests that police recruits generally present high levels of CRF with an average estimated V̇O2max of 53.3 ml·min-1·kg-1 for males and 43.8 ml·min-1·kg-1 for females. Furthermore, our analyses showed significant but small positive correlations between estimated V̇O2max and time periods of PAT performance for male (rs = 0.105, p < 0.001) and female recruits (rs = 0.125, p < 0.001). Overall, our results suggest that the CRF of police recruits in Quebec is considerably higher than that of their North American peers., (Copyright © 2022 National Strength and Conditioning Association.)

Background: The physical preparation of cadets for both physical employment standards (PES) and police job performance is a major concern for police organizations. Identifying fitness components associated with both PES performance and work performance can provide essential information for the physical training of police cadets. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the association of fitness components with performance of the Standardized Physical Abilities Test (SPAT), a new law enforcement PES., Methods: A sample of 41 police cadets was recruited to take part in this cross-sectional study. First, the participants were assessed using six fitness assessments (standing broad jump, medicine ball put, grip strength test, visuomotor reaction time (VMRT) test, modified agility T-test, and 600-meter run). In a second experiment, participants performed the SPAT., Results: Bivariate correlation analysis showed moderate to strong associations between each fitness assessment and SPAT performance. Based on stepwise multiple regression analysis, results at the VMRT Test, the medicine ball put, and the agility T-test accounted for 66.0% of the variability in SPAT performance (R 2 =0.660; P<0.001)., Conclusions: Overall, our results suggest that exercise prescriptions for police cadets should focus on power, agility, and VMRT. Furthermore, our results show that performance in a PES can be estimated rather precisely based on low-cost fitness assessments. Therefore, such methodology could be used to develop fitness assessments specific to PES requirements.

Aquatic organisms are continuously exposed to emerging contaminants coming from urban effluents of wastewater treatment plants. The contamination of surface water by those effluents poses a number of environmental risks, and pharmaceuticals are part of this class of effluent contaminants. Various classes of pharmaceuticals are not treated by wastewater treatment plants and anticancer drugs are part of them. The chemotherapy drug methotrexate (MTX) is an emerging contaminant and its growing use with the increase in cancer cases worldwide raises potential risk to aquatic organisms exposed to effluent discharges. However, chemical analyses in exposed freshwater aquatic organisms for ecotoxicological studies are rarely available and no studies have been done yet to accompany ecotoxicological data of exposed filter-feeding organisms. The purpose of this study was to develop a specific and sensitive analytical LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of methotrexate uptake in mussels exposed at different concentrations of the drug. A solid/liquid extraction followed by solid phase extraction (SPE) using an MCX phase purification scheme was optimized. The optimal recovery of 65% and matrix effect of 38% allowed to achieve a limit of quantification of 0.25 ng g -1 , with an accuracy of 99-106%, a precision of no more than 3% RSD, and linearity ranging from 0.25 to 25 ng g -1 . This methodology was tested with mussels exposed for 96 h at different concentrations (4 to 100 µg L -1 ) of MTX. The data revealed tissue uptake at concentrations ranging from 0 to 2.53 ng g -1 . This suggests that this drug has low uptake potential and this methodology could be used to examine tissue levels of this drug in organisms continuously exposed to urban pollution., (© 2022. Crown.)

Complete genomes can be recovered from metagenomes by assembling and binning DNA sequences into metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs). Yet, the presence of microdiversity can hamper the assembly and binning processes, possibly yielding chimeric, highly fragmented and incomplete genomes. Here, the metagenomes of four samples of aerobic granular sludge bioreactors containing Candidatus (Ca.) Accumulibacter, a phosphate-accumulating organism of interest for wastewater treatment, were sequenced with both PacBio and Illumina. Different strategies of genome assembly and binning were investigated, including published protocols and a binning procedure adapted to the binning of long contigs (MuLoBiSC). Multiple criteria were considered to select the best strategy for Ca. Accumulibacter, whose multiple strains in every sample represent a challenging microdiversity. In this case, the best strategy relies on long-read only assembly and a custom binning procedure including MuLoBiSC in metaWRAP. Several high-quality Ca. Accumulibacter MAGs, including a novel species, were obtained independently from different samples. Comparative genomic analysis showed that MAGs retrieved in different samples harbour genomic rearrangements in addition to accumulation of point mutations. The microdiversity of Ca. Accumulibacter, likely driven by mobile genetic elements, causes major difficulties in recovering MAGs, but it is also a hallmark of the panmictic lifestyle of these bacteria., (© 2022 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The tension on the supply of surgical and FFP2 masks during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic leads to study the potential reuse of these masks. As washing is easily adaptable at home, this treatment solution was retained. In this work, thirty-six references of surgical masks and four FFP2 masks were tested without being worn or washed and after several washing cycles. The results highlighted a great heterogeneity of performances depending on the mask trademarks, both for surgical masks and FFP2. The quality of the meltblown and spunbond layers and the presence/absence of electrostatic charges at the fiber surface are put forward to explain the variability of results, both on differential pressures and filtration efficiencies. The differential pressure and the particle filtration efficiency of the washed masks were maintained up to 10 washing cycles and met the standard requirements. However, an immersion in water with a detergent induces an efficiency decrease for submicronic particles. This lower performance, constant after the first washing cycle, can be explained by the loss of electrostatic charges during the washing cycle. The modifications of surface properties after washing also lead to a loss of the hydrophobic behavior of type IIR surgical masks, which can therefore no more be considered as resistant to blood projections., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although the 20-meter shuttle run test (20MSR) is frequently used by police organisations for recruitment purposes, to our knowledge no study has yet assessed the accuracy of this test to estimate maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) in police recruits., Objective: The primary objective of this study was to assess the validity of the 20MSR as a predictor of VO2max in police cadets., Methods: 49 police cadets completed both an indirect calorimetry VO2max assessment and a 20MSR. Based on their results, estimated VO2max was calculated using an established equation. Furthermore, two models estimating the VO2max was also developed using the final stage completed and sex as independent variables in the first model (model A) as well as the final half-stage completed and sex in the second model (model B)., Results: A strong and significant bivariate correlation was found between measured VO2max and the final stage completed at the 20MSR (r = 0.874, p < 0.001). Nevertheless, limits of agreement analysis showed relatively large agreement errors between measured VO2max and estimated VO2max based on the established equation (0.46±6.29 ml·min-1·kg-1), model A (0.00±5.58 ml min-1 kg-1), and model B (0.00±5.48 ml min-1·kg-1)., Conclusions: Although the 20MSR can be a useful tool to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness for research and conditioning purposes, the large agreement errors found in this study suggest that results at the 20MSR should be interpreted with caution when making "pass or fail" decisions.

Mental Health Practitioners (MHPs) have a unique opportunity to provide resources and support to those suffering from Long COVID (LC), the post infectious illness that often follows an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. In working with these individuals, MHPs can learn from the experiences of patients with another post-infectious disease known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). ME/CFS was once thought to be a psychologically mediated disorder caused by deconditioning and the fear of exertion following a precipitating event such as a viral infection. Research now shows that LC and ME/CFS are biomedical, multisystem, complex physiologic diseases. This article provides a framework to MHPs for the treatment of LC patients using knowledge derived from three decades of research on ME/CFS., Competing Interests: Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

The largest terrestrial carbon sink on earth is soil carbon stocks. As the climate changes, the rate at which the Earth's climate warms depends in part on the persistence of soil organic carbon. Microbial turnover forms the backbone of soil organic matter (SOM) formation and it has been recently proposed that SOM molecular complexity is a key driver of stability. Despite this, the links between microbial diversity, chemical complexity and biogeochemical nature of SOM remain missing. Here we tested the hypotheses that distinct microbial communities shape the composition of SOM, and microbial-derived SOM has distinct decomposition potential depending on its community of origin. We inoculated microbial communities of varying diversities into a model soil matrix amended with simple carbon (cellobiose) and measured the thermal stability of the resultant SOM. Using a Rock-Eval ® ramped thermal analysis, we found that microbial community composition drives the chemical fingerprint of soil carbon. While diversity was not a driver of SOM composition, bacteria-only communities lead to more thermally labile soil C pools than communities with bacteria and fungi. Our results provide direct evidence for a link between microbial community structure, SOM composition, and thermal stability. This evidence demonstrates the relevance of soil microorganisms in building persistent SOM stocks., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Omics longitudinal studies are effective experimental designs to inform on the stability and dynamics of microbial communities in response to perturbations, but time-course analytical frameworks are required to fully exploit the temporal information acquired in this context. In this study we investigate the influence of ammonia on the stability of anaerobic digestion (AD) microbiome with a new statistical framework. Ammonia can severely reduce AD performance. Understanding how it affects microbial communities development and the degradation progress is a key operational issue to propose more stable processes. Thirty batch digesters were set-up with different levels of ammonia. Microbial community structure and metabolomic profiles were monitored with 16 S-metabarcoding and GCMS (gas-chromatography-mass-spectrometry). Digesters were first grouped according to similar degradation performances. Within each group, time profiles of OTUs and metabolites were modelled, then clustered into similar time trajectories, evidencing for example a syntrophic interaction between Syntrophomonas and Methanoculleus that was maintained up to 387 mg FAN/L. Metabolites resulting from organic matter fermentation, such as dehydroabietic or phytanic acid, decreased with increasing ammonia levels. Our analytical framework enabled to fully account for time variability and integrate this parameter in data analysis., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An inkjet-printed paper-based Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensor is a robust and versatile device that provides trace sensing capabilities for the detection and analysis of narcotics and drugs. Such sensors generally work well for analytes with good binding affinity towards the Au or Ag plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) resident in the sensors. In this report, we show that iodide functionalization of the printed sensors helps to remove adsorbed contaminants from AuNP surfaces enabling superior performance with improved detection of narcotics such as fentanyl, heroin and cocaine by SERS. SERS signals are easily doubled with the iodide-functionalized sensors which also showed orders of magnitude improvement in detection limit. In this report, we show that a short (90 s) iodide treatment of the sensors significantly improved the detection of heroin. We propose that iodide functionalization be integrated into field detection kits through the solvent that wets paper-based sensor prior to swabbing for narcotics. Alternatively, we have also demonstrated that iodide functionalized sensors can be stored in ambient for up to 1 week and retain the improved performance towards heroin detection. This report will help to significantly improve the performance of paper-based sensors for field detection of narcotic drugs., 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., (Copyright © 2021 Tay, Poirier, Ghaemi, Hulse and Wang.)

Purpose: A complete ulnar head replacement may be indicated in cases of distal radial ulnar joint (DRUJ) dysfunction to address bony pathology in lieu of using a constrained total DRUJ prosthesis. Complete ulnar head implants are simple, but they may be unstable if soft tissue tension is not adequately restored. We hypothesized that incorporating an increased offset in the complete ulnar head replacement would lead to increased tension on the distal oblique interosseous ligament, increased contact force at the DRUJ, and improved joint stability., Methods: Using a specially designed jig, we measured instability by comparing displacement under load (stiffness) of the DRUJ in 10 cadaveric specimens under 4 different conditions: (1) intact, (2) native head after excision of the triangular fibrocartilage complex, (3) replacement of the ulnar head with a standard offset ulnar head, and (4) replacement of the ulnar head with an increased offset ulnar head. No soft tissue repair was done. We measured anteroposterior displacement under load with maximum translation of 10 mm or maximum loads of 50 N. We tested all specimens with the forearm positioned in neutral, supination, and pronation., Results: Excising the triangular fibrocartilage complex decreased the average stiffness of the DRUJ to 46% of the intact state, creating a simulated state of DRUJ instability. Replacing the ulnar head with the standard offset head increased average stiffness to 54% of the intact state. Increasing the ulnar head offset with the simulated total ulnar head replacement increased average stiffness to 77% of the intact state., Conclusions: An increased offset ulnar head replacement improves DRUJ stability compared with a standard anatomic offset ulnar head replacement., Clinical Relevance: Understanding DRUJ morphology and offset is important in the treatment of DRUJ arthritis and instability., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In the present work, we aim to investigate the ability of the zirconium-based MOF-type compound UiO-66-NH 2 , to immobilize molecular gaseous iodine under conditions analogous to those encountered in an operating Filtered Containment Venting System (FCVS) line. Typically, the UiO-66-NH 2 particles were exposed to 131 I (beta and gamma emitters) and submitted to air/steam at 120 °C, under gamma irradiation (1.9 kGy h -1 ). In parallel to this experiment under simulated accidental conditions, the stability of the binderless UiO-66-NH 2 granules under steam and gamma irradiation was investigated. In order to fit with the specifications required by typical venting systems, and to compare the efficiency of the selected MOF to porous materials commonly used by the industry, scale-up syntheses and UiO-66-NH 2 millimetric-size shaping were realized. For this task, we developed an original binderless method, in order to analyze solely the efficiency of the UiO-66-NH 2 material. The shaped MOF particles were then submitted separately to gamma irradiation, steam and temperature, for confirming their viability in a venting process. Their structural, textural and mechanical behaviors were characterized by the means several techniques including gas sorption, powder X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and crushing tests. Promising results were obtained to trap gaseous molecular iodine in severe accidental conditions., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Microbiological spoilage of meat is considered as a process which involves mainly bacterial metabolism leading to degradation of meat sensory qualities. Studying spoilage requires the collection of different types of experimental data encompassing microbiological, physicochemical and sensorial measurements. Within this framework, the objective herein was to carry out a multiblock path modelling workflow to decipher causality relationships between different types of spoilage-related responses: composition of microbiota, volatilome and off-odour profiles. Analyses were performed with the Path-ComDim approach on a large-scale dataset collected on fresh turkey sausages. This approach enabled to quantify the importance of causality relationships determined a priori between each type of responses as well as to identify important responses involved in spoilage, then to validate causality assumptions. Results were very promising: the data integration confirmed and quantified the causality between data blocks, exhibiting the dynamical nature of spoilage, mainly characterized by the evolution of off-odour profiles caused by the production of volatile organic compounds such as ethanol or ethyl acetate. This production was possibly associated with several bacterial species like Lactococcus piscium, Leuconostoc gelidum, Psychrobacter sp. or Latilactobacillus fuchuensis. Likewise, the production of acetoin and diacetyl in meat spoilage was highlighted. The Path-ComDim approach illustrated here with meat spoilage can be applied to other large-scale and heterogeneous datasets associated with pathway scenarios and represents a promising key tool for deciphering causality in complex biological phenomena., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Municipal effluents continuously release cytostatic drugs with unknown consequences in aquatic organisms. The purpose of the study was to examine the sublethal toxicity of 2 commonly-found cytostatic drugs 5-fluouracile (5-FLU) and methotrexate (MTX) to endemic Elliptio complanata freshwater mussels. The mussels were exposed of each drugs at 0, 4, 20 and 100 μg/L for 96 h t 15 °C. After the exposure period, glutathione S-transferase (GST) and dehydrofolate reductase (DHFR) activities, DNA damage and lipid peroxidation (LPO) were determined. The drugs were detected in mussel tissues with no evidence of accumulation with either drugs. The drug 5-FLU gave a larger spectrum of effects than MTX such as increased DHFR, decreased LPO and DNA strand breaks (repair activity) suggesting that the mussels were metabolically hindered and reduced DNA repair activity. The drug MTX only increased DHFR activity in the gonad. Hence, the data suggest that these drugs are biologically active in freshwater mussels and based on the reported maximum levels of these drugs in municipal effluents, the observed effects are likely in sessile freshwater mussel species downstream urban sources of pollution., (Crown Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a process that can efficiently degrade organic waste into renewable energies. AD failure is however common as the underpinning microbial mechanisms are highly vulnerable to a wide range of inhibitory compounds. Sequencing technologies enable the identification of microbial indicators of digesters inhibition, but existing studies are limited. They used different inocula, substrates, sites and types of reactors and reported different or contradictory indicators. Our aim was to identify a robust signature of microbial indicators of phenol and ammonia inhibitions across four independent AD microbial studies. To identify such signature, we applied an original multivariate integrative method on two in-house studies, then validated our approach by predicting the inhibitory status of samples from two other studies with more than 90% accuracy. Our approach shows how we can efficiently leverage on existing studies to extract reproducible microbial community patterns and predict AD inhibition to improve AD microbial management., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Benthic cyanobacterial mats occurring in the St. Lawrence River fluvial lakes Saint-Louis and Saint-Pierre are dominated by Microseira (Lyngbya) wollei which produce several cyanotoxins including LWTX-1 that is characteristic of Microseira wollei. This cyanotoxin is not only present in the filaments forming benthic mats, but was also measured in the water overlying the mats. LWTX-1 was found in all cyanobacterial filament samples (75.29-103.26 ng mg -1 ) and all overlying water samples (3.01-11.03 ng L -1 ). Toxin concentrations measured in overlying water and dry biomass were strongly correlated (r = 0.94). Furthermore, LWTX-1 concentration in water was positively correlated with the dissolved organic carbon in water (r = 0.74) and % nitrogen content in cyanobacterial filaments (r = 0.52). A preliminary study was conducted to determine the release and degradation rates of LWTX-1 from a M. wollei mat kept under laboratory conditions over a 3-month period. Toxin measurements revealed an early, massive toxin release followed by a typical decaying function, with a half-life in the order of 17 days. Our results raise concerns about the occurrence and downstream advection of dissolved cyanotoxins from Microseira mats in the aquatic environment. Graphical abstract.

Background: High-quality and relevant nursing education is needed to ensure graduates meet entry to practice competencies. Despite the important role of curricula in the development of nurses and the nursing profession, there does not appear to be a consistent or widely accepted approach to nursing curriculum renewal., Objective: To identify and synthesize existing curriculum renewal/redesign practices, create an aggregated logic model depicting an evidence-informed process for nursing curriculum renewal, and stimulate dialogue about how to keep nursing curricula relevant in an ever-changing healthcare context., Design: An integrative review, modeled on the Joanna Briggs Methodology of Systematic Reviews, of the available published articles, including empirical research and discussion articles., Data Sources: We searched for quantitative, qualitative, and non-research literature (English and French) on full nursing programs or curriculum revisions for pre-licensure nursing students enrolled in an undergraduate or associate degree program. Databases included CINAHL, Nursing and Allied Health, and Medline from January 2010 to January 2017. We then did a hand search for articles from January 2017 to April 2019., Synthesis: Extracted data were synthesized into an aggregated logic model based on Yin's method of cross-case analysis. Data included information about the internal context, the external context, drivers, the preparatory phase, the active phase, outcomes, and evaluation methods of the described curriculum renewal process., Results: Twenty articles were included, which were published between 2010 and 2018. The resulting logic model, The Ottawa Model for Nursing Curriculum Renewal, includes information on the context, process and outcomes of the renewal process, and how and when to evaluate curricula., Conclusion: This synthesis aids in defining the process of curriculum renewal for undergraduate nursing education. It stimulates systems level thinking and reveals gaps, such as the need for further research into curriculum evaluation. The Ottawa Model for Nursing Curriculum Renewal is a usable template to aid educators undertaking their own process of curriculum renewal., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None to declare., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Data in this article provide detailed information on the diversity of bacterial communities present on 576 samples of raw pork or poultry sausages produced industrially in 2017. Bacterial growth dynamics and diversity were monitored throughout the refrigerated storage period to estimate the impact of packaging atmosphere and the use of potassium lactate as chemical preservative. The data include several types of analysis aiming at providing a comprehensive microbial ecology of spoilage during storage and how the process parameters do influence this phenomenon. The analysis includes: the gas content in packaging, pH, chromametric measurements, plate counts (total mesophilic aerobic flora and lactic acid bacteria), sensorial properties of the products, meta-metabolomic quantification of volatile organic compounds and bacterial community metagenetic analysis. Bacterial diversity was monitored using two types of amplicon sequencing (16S rRNA and GyrB encoding genes) at different time points for the different conditions (576 samples for gyrB and 436 samples for 16S rDNA). Sequencing data were generated by using Illumina MiSeq. The sequencing data have been deposited in the bioproject PRJNA522361. Samples accession numbers vary from SAMN10964863 to SAMN10965438 for gyrB amplicon and from SAMN10970131 to SAMN10970566 for 16S., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have, or could be perceived to have, influenced the work reported in this article. This work was supported by the ANR RedLosses Project, Grant ANR-16-CE21-0006, operated by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche. SP and NDML were granted for postdoctoral and PhD study respectively through this agency. The funding body did not play any role neither in the design of the study nor in collection, analysis, and interpretation of data., (© 2020 The Author(s).)

Leukotriene B 4 (LTB 4 ) plays a prominent role in innate immunity as it induces phagocyte recruitment, the release of antimicrobial effectors, and as it potentiates the ingestion and killing of pathogens. In humans, LTB 4 has a short half-life and is rapidly metabolized by leukocytes, notably into 20-OH- and 20-COOH-LTB 4 by neutrophils. Although these LTB 4 metabolites bind to the BLT 1 receptor with high affinity, they activate neutrophils to a much lower extent than LTB 4 . We thus postulated that LTB 4 metabolites could dampen BLT 1 -mediated responses, therefore limiting the impact of LTB 4 on human neutrophil functions. We found that 20-OH-LTB 4 and 20-COOH-LTB 4 inhibited all of the LTB 4 -mediated neutrophil responses we tested (migration, degranulation, leukotriene biosynthesis). The potencies of the different compounds at inhibiting LTB 4 -mediated responses were 20-OH-LTB 4  = CP 105,696 (BLT 1 antagonist) > > 20-COOH-LTB 4 ≥ resolvin E 1 (RVE 1 ). In contrast, the fMLP- and IL-8-mediated responses we tested were not affected by the LTB 4 metabolites or RVE 1 . 20-OH-LTB 4 and 20-COOH-LTB 4 also inhibited the LTB 4 -mediated migration of human eosinophils but not that induced by 5-KETE. Moreover, using 20-COOH-LTB 4 , LTB 4 , and LTB 4 -alkyne, we show that LTB 4 is a chemotactic, rather than a chemokinetic factor for both human neutrophils and eosinophils. In conclusion, our data indicate that LTB 4 metabolites and RVE 1 act as natural inhibitors of LTB 4 -mediated responses. Thus, preventing LTB 4 ω-oxidation might result in increased innate immunity and granulocyte functions., (©2019 Society for Leukocyte Biology.)

This paper presents a voice control interface prototype for assistive robots aiming to help people living with upper limb disabilities to perform daily activities autonomously. Assistive robotic devices can be used to help people with upper-body disabilities gain more autonomy in their daily life. However, it is very difficult or even impossible for certain users to control the robot with conventional control systems (e.g. joystick, sip-and-puff). This paper presents the design and preliminary evaluation of a voice command system prototype for the control of assistive robotic arms' movements. This work aims at making the control of assistive robots more intuitive and fluid, and to perform various tasks in less time and with a lesser effort. The prototype of the voice command interface developed is first presented, followed by two experiments with five able-bodied subjects in order to assess the system's performance and guide future development.

The stem and bulb nematode, Ditylenchus dipsaci, is a plant-parasitic nematode affecting over 500 plant species worldwide. Since 2012, garlic producers from Ontario and Quebec have been particularly affected with economic losses caused by this pest. Reproduction of D. dipsaci on a particular host depends on its biological race, and races are unknown for these populations from eastern Canada. As a polyphagous pest, D. dipsaci can possibly be a threat and have negative impact on many crops grown in Quebec, such as field and vegetable crops (e.g., onion). In this study, the host range of four populations of D. dipsaci from Quebec and Ontario was determined in a greenhouse experiment using 11 crops. Garlic, onion, and green onion showed high susceptibility to the nematode, whereas reproduction on potato was poor. No reproduction was observed on corn, soybean, barley, alfalfa, mustard, carrot, and lettuce. These crops could therefore be used as rotational crops in a control program. Thirty-two populations of D. dipsaci were also genetically characterized using genotyping-by-sequencing. The comparison of allele frequencies at 481 loci showed that most of the populations had a genotype similar to a reference population from northern Ontario. However, a sample from eastern Quebec exhibited a distinct genotype and will require further phenotyping in a greenhouse to preclude the possibility of a different race.

Objectives: Sequencing of 16S rDNA V3-V4 region is widely applied for food community profiling. However, two different universal forward primers (named here MUYZER-primer1 and KLINDWORTH-primer2) targeting an identical conservative sequence upstream of the V3 region of 16S rRNA gene, and only distinguished by a single mismatch are both used. This study was carried out to compare whether the accuracy of food microbiota analysis would depend on the choice of one of these two primers., Results: Alignment of both primers with common food-borne bacteria 16S sequences revealed that the mismatch between both primers might specifically affect the amplification of Leuconostoc, Oenococcus and Fructobacillus species but not Weissella species. Food products containing either Leuconostoc and/or Weissella were selected for a detection test. As expected from our in silico analysis, our study showed that this mismatch induced a strong biased amplification specifically associated to the OTUs belonging to the genus Leuconostoc but not to the genus Weissella. In presence of Muyzer-primer1, none of the sequences expected for Leuconostoc genus was detected whereas those sequences were correctly amplified with Klindworth-primer2. Since Leuconostoc is an important genus in food, agro-environments and in digestive tract of animals, we recommend that Muyzer-primer1 should thus be abandoned for the bacterial characterization of their associated microbiota.

Meat and seafood spoilage ecosystems harbor extensive bacterial genomic diversity that is mainly found within a small number of species but within a large number of strains with different spoilage metabolic potential. To decipher the intraspecies diversity of such microbiota, traditional metagenetic analysis using the 16S rRNA gene is inadequate. We therefore assessed the potential benefit of an alternative genetic marker, gyrB, which encodes the subunit B of DNA gyrase, a type II DNA topoisomerase. A comparison between 16S rDNA-based (V3-V4) amplicon sequencing and gyrB-based amplicon sequencing was carried out in five types of meat and seafood products, with five mock communities serving as quality controls. Our results revealed that bacterial richness in these mock communities and food samples was estimated with higher accuracy using gyrB than using16S rDNA. However, for Firmicutes species, 35% of putative gyrB reads were actually identified as sequences of a gyrB paralog, parE, which encodes subunit B of topoisomerase IV; we therefore constructed a reference database of published sequences of both gyrB and pare for use in all subsequent analyses. Despite this co-amplification, the deviation between relative sequencing quantification and absolute qPCR quantification was comparable to that observed for 16S rDNA for all the tested species. This confirms that gyrB can be used successfully alongside 16S rDNA to determine the species composition (richness and evenness) of food microbiota. The major benefit of gyrB sequencing is its potential for improving taxonomic assignment and for further investigating OTU richness at the subspecies level, thus allowing more accurate discrimination of samples. Indeed, 80% of the reads of the 16S rDNA dataset were represented by thirteen 16S rDNA-based OTUs that could not be assigned at the species-level. Instead, these same clades corresponded to 44 gyrB-based OTUs, which differentiated various lineages down to the subspecies level. The increased ability of gyrB-based analyses to track and trace phylogenetically different groups of strains will generate improved resolution and more reliable results for studies of the strains implicated in food processes., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

A wide variety of inhibitors can induce anaerobic digester disruption. To avoid performance losses, support media can be used to mitigate inhibitions. However, distinguishing the physico-chemical from the biological mechanisms of such strategies remains delicate. In this framework, the impact of 10  g/L of different types of zeolites and activated carbons (AC) on microbial community dynamics during anaerobic digestion of biowaste in the presence of 1.3 g/L of phenol was evaluated with 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. In the presence of AC, methanogenesis inhibition was rapidly removed due to a decrease of phenol concentration. This abiotic effect related to the physico-chemical properties of AC led to increased final CH4 and CO2 productions by 29-31% compared to digesters incubated without support. Interestingly, although zeolite did not adsorb phenol, final CH4 and CO2 production reached comparable levels as with AC. Nevertheless, compared to digesters incubated without support, methanogenesis lag phase duration was less reduced in the presence of zeolites (5 ± 1 days) than in the presence of activated carbons (12 ± 2 days). Both types of support induced biotic effects. AC and zeolite both allowed the preservation of the major representative archaeal genus of the non-inhibited ecosystem, Methanosarcina. By contrast, they distinctly shaped bacterial populations. OTUs belonging to class W5 became dominant at the expense of OTUs assigned to orders Clostridiales, Bacteroidales and Anaerolinales in the presence of AC. Zeolite enhanced the implantation of OTUs assigned to bacterial phylum Cloacimonetes. This study highlighted that supports can induce biotic and abiotic effects within digesters inhibited with phenol, showing potentialities to enhance anaerobic digestion stability under disrupting conditions., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Data in this article provide detailed information on the microbial dynamics during inhibition of anaerobic digestion by phenol and ammonia. Ten concentrations of both inhibitors were tested in triplicates. Data include the operational conditions and degradation performance measurements, as well as microbial community analysis, by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, at different time points for the different conditions (96 samples). Sequencing data were generated by using IonTorrent PGM sequencer. This data is associated with the research articles "Community shifts within anaerobic digestion microbiota facing phenol inhibition: Towards early warning microbial indicators?" (Poirier et al., 2016a) [1] and "Anaerobic digestion of biowaste under extreme ammonia concentration: Identification of key microbial phylotypes" (Poirier et al., 2016b) [2]. The sequencing data have been deposited in the bioproject PRJNA450311, with the dataset identifier (TaxID) 1263854. Samples accession numbers go from SAMN08934853 to SAMN08934947.