Outbreaks of human infection linked to the powdered infant formula (PIF) food chain and associated with the bacterium Cronobacter, are of concern to public health. These bacteria are regarded as opportunistic pathogens linked to life-threatening infections predominantly in neonates, with an under developed immune system. Monitoring the microbiological ecology of PIF production sites is an impor...

BACKGROUND Posterolateral fusion (PF) is a common method by which to achieve fusion in lumbar spine surgery. It has been reported that posterior interbody fusion (PIF) yields a higher fusion rate and a better functional and clinical outcome. Our objective was to determine whether PIF improves the clinical and radiologic outcomes in adults surgically treated for degenerative lumbar spine conditi...

UV irradiation of four non-fluorescent phenylurea herbicides including linuron, diuron, isoproturon and neburon is shown to yield fluorescent photoproducts. The photochemically-induced fluorescence (PIF) properties of these herbicides in several media (water, 2-propanol and their mixtures) and aqueous micellar solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC)...

OBJECTIVE Enterobacter cowanii is a genus of common gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacterium of the Enterobacteriaceae family. This organism can be potentially a powdered infant milk formula-borne opportunistic pathogen. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify E. cowanii from consumed powdered infant formula milk (PIF) in intensive care units (NI...

BACKGROUND This study aimed at estimating the proportion of diabetes as a risk factor to the attributable burden of cardiovascular diseases in Iran. METHODS Comparative Risk Assessment methodology was used to calculating Potential Impact Fraction (PIF). To calculate PIF, data on the prevalence of newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus (NDM) and known diabetes mellitus (KDM) were obtained from 3rd ...

In the present study the role of Akt/PKB (protein kinase B) in PIF- (proteolysis-inducing factor) induced protein degradation has been investigated in murine myotubes. PIF induced transient phosphorylation of Akt at Ser(473) within 30 min, which was attenuated by the PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) inhibitor LY294002 and the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein. Protein degradation was attenuat...

We demonstrate the application of a high-throughput modeling framework to estimate exposure to chemicals used in personal care products (PCPs). As a basis for estimating exposure, we use the product intake fraction (PiF), defined as the mass of chemical taken by an individual or population per mass of a given chemical used in a product. We calculated use- and disposal- stage PiFs for 518 chemic...

Throughout our lifespan we face many challenges which are often referred to as transitions. The move to university is one such transition which may place individuals at risk of suffering ongoing significant life stress, anxiety and uncertainty. Optimism, promotion of independent functioning (PIF), promotion of volitional functioning (PVF) and perceived social support (PSS) appear to be benefici...

Phytochromes are red light (R) and far-red light (FR) receptors that play important roles in many aspects of plant growth and development. Phytochromes mainly function in the nucleus and regulate sets of genes by inhibiting negatively acting basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors named PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORs (PIFs) in Arabidopsis thaliana Although R/FR photoreversible responses a...

Objective—Collagen-binding integrins may be involved in controlling interstitial fluid pressure (Pif), transcapillary fluid flux, and tissue fluid volume. Our aim was to explore whether the newly discovered collagen binding 11 1 integrin has a mechanistic role in inflammatory edema formation. Methods and Results—In collagen matrices seeded with a mixture of mast cells and fibroblasts, fibroblas...