Vital Category Research Articles

Recent advances in the biosynthesis of polysaccharide-based antimicrobial glycoconjugate vaccines

Glycoconjugate vaccines are a vital category of effective and safe commercial vaccines that have significantly reduced the global prevalence of drug-resistant bacterial infections. These vaccines are synthesized by covalently linking bacterial polysaccharide antigens to a carrier protein. Given that they produce a stronger and longer-lasting immune response than pure polysaccharides that activate only B cells, glycoconjugate vaccines have become one of the most promising vaccine types. However, the chemical synthesis of glycoconjugate vaccines is complex, costly, and labor-intensive. Therefore, the efficient preparation of biosynthetic glycoconjugates using microbial cell factories has emerged as a highly desirable manufacturing alternative. This review focuses on advancements in the recombinant microbial biosynthesis of glycoconjugate vaccines and summarizes various strategies to optimize their production. It is based on three key aspects: the selection of oligosaccharyltransferase (OST), the use of different vaccine carrier proteins, and the enhancement of key concentrations in the uridine diphosphate (UDP)-sugar supply. Finally, the review highlights technical challenges and discusses future directions for the recombinant synthesis of glycoconjugate vaccines.

Synthetic biology meets Aspergillus: engineering strategies for next-generation organic acid production.

Organic acids constitute a vital category of chemical raw materials. They have extensive applications in industries such as polymers, food, and pharmaceuticals. Currently, industrial production predominantly relies on microbial fermentation. Aspergillus, due to its unique metabolic capabilities, has become an important microbial resource for organic acid production. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on genetic engineering of Aspergillus to increase its yield of organic acids. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current advancement and future directions in the application of genetic engineering techniques to enhance organic production in Aspergillus, specifically highlighting achievement in reconstructing metabolic pathways for desired products, eliminating by-products, modifying regulatory pathways, and engineering mycelial morphology. Furthermore, this review also focuses on the strategies and genetic tools applied in Aspergillus, with particular emphasis on the potential applications and challenges of CRISPR-based biosensors in organic acid fermentation. By providing insights into these developments, we aim to offer theoretical guidance and innovative approaches for enhancing the efficiency of Aspergillus strains in industrial organic acid production.

Size and vitality characteristics of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) populations in the Central Bohemian region of the Czech Republic: A case study of non-timber forest products

Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) is a key non-timber forest product that plays an important role in forest biodiversity and ecosystem function. This study evaluated the vitality levels of eight bilberry populations in the Central Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, examining whether their vitality depends on the habitat type. Morphometric analyses were conducted, measuring 13 static metric and 16 static allometric morphological parameters of bilberry shoots. Statistical methods, including correlation, factor analysis, and ANOVA, were employed to determine the vitality index and population vitality structure based on the algorithm developed by Y.A. Zlobin. The results indicated that bilberry plants exhibit significant morphological variability based on forest conditions, forming plants with specific habitus traits. High positive correlations were found between many morphological characteristics, which were grouped into five clusters, each comprising 2–4 parameters. Among these, phytomass, total leaf surface area, and plant height were identified as the key determinants of vitality levels. Bilberry populations in Central Bohemian forests were classified into three vitality categories: prosperous, balanced, and depressed. The study found that the most vigorous populations, with Q-index values between 0.3333 and 0.4375, were located in associations such as Pinetum (sylvestris) vaccinio (myrtilli)-oxalidosum (acetosellae), Pinetum (sylvestris) vaccinio (myrtilli), and Pineto (sylvestris)-Piceetum (abietis) vaccinio (myrtilli)-oxalidosum (acetosellae). These populations are also of high economic value due to their bioresource potential. The study underscores the importance of habitat type in influencing bilberry vitality and offers insights into future research on bilberry populations as a vital component of non-timber forest products.

Enhancing the fermentation of unsalted Moroccan picholine green olives through heat-shock treatment, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum S61 inoculation and orange peel addition

ABSTRACT Table olives, a vital category among fermented vegetables, come in treated and natural forms. Treated green olives require an alkaline treatment before brining to start fermentation. This study investigates the fermentation of unsalted Moroccan Picholine green olives using a method that includes heat shock treatment, inoculation with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum S61, and orange peel juice. The findings indicate that a heat shock at 70°C significantly reduces enterobacteria and enhances acidification, dropping pH levels from 5.0 to 3.6. In contrast, non-heat-treated olives showed only a slight pH decrease. The method also exhibited high antimicrobial activity, with substantial inhibition of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, L. monocytogenes, and S. aureus. Antifungal activity was noted, with significant inhibition of various strains. These results suggest that combining heat shock, L. plantarum S61, and orange peel juice can significantly improve the fermentation process of green olives, enhancing safety and quality.

MirtronStructDB: A Comprehensive Database of Mirtrons with Predicted Secondary Structures

Motivation Mirtrons, a vital category of non-canonical microRNAs (miRNAs) originating from exon-intron boundaries through splicing mechanisms, play crucial roles in cellular processes. However, existing databases lack the latest data and structural information, hindering understandings of mirtron formation and functions. Results We introduce MirtronStructDB, an online database addressing these gaps by incorporating over 350 novel mirtrons. Significantly, it provides corresponding predicted RNA secondary structures, offering a deeper understanding of the functional roles and mechanisms of all mirtrons. This enhances previous repositories, offering a total of 4,209 mirtron records spanning 25 species from 46 publications. Our database contributes for unraveling patterns and functions in mirtrons across species and diverse structural features. MirtronStructDB allows users to freely browse, search, visualize, and download data via a user-friendly interface. Availability MirtronStructDB is accessible at: http://www.bio8.cs.hku.hk/msdb/. Contact lishumin@connect.hku.hk, rbluo@cs.hku.hk

Aristotle Meets Augustine in Fourteenth-Century Liège: Religious Violence in the Chronicon of Jean Hocsem

As William Cavanaugh has remarked, the scholarly notion of religion “should often be surrounded by scare quotes. Its flexibility and occasional nebulousness make evaluating its role in conceiving of, effecting, and justifying violence even more difficult. At the same time, it sticks around and remains a vital category of contemporary analysis. What if getting behind the Wars of Religion—the period to which Cavanaugh traces the emergence of his “myth of religious violence”—could plant the seeds for a new paradigm in understanding the relationship between religion and violence? In this article, I analyze the Chronicon of Jean Hocsem, a fourteenth-century canon from Liège. Untranslated into English and rarely written about, Hocsem’s text offers an unexpectedly political perspective on this question. Combining insights from Augustine’s City of God as well as Aristotle’s Politics and basing his ideas on his own experience of nearly constant conflict, Hocsem develops the idea that class antagonisms and human frailty make violence—especially political violence—inevitable. He takes this approach within a polity ruled by a prince-bishop, though one he would not have thought of as “religious”. Hocsem’s solutions are thus avowedly political. His pessimism about such questions leads to an emphasis on mitigating violence through the institution of proper socio-political structures. This reading of Hocsem and his politicizing of the question of violence opens new possibilities for scholars, further calling into question any easy relationship between the modern categories of “religion” and violence.

The vital condition of plantings on the territory of Secondary school No. 2 named after Tikhomirovoy O. A. in Yoshkar-Ola

Since children and teaching staff spend a significant amount of time in the schoolyard, it is important to maintain a healthy state of green spaces, which is directly related to maintaining ecological balance and improving the quality of the environment. The presence of green areas on school grounds has a positive impact on the health of students, as they spend a significant part of the day inside school premises and need fresh air. In addition, the green areas serve as training grounds for classes in biology, ecology and other subjects. This study is devoted to the study of the territory of secondary school No. 2 in Yoshkar-Ola (Republic of Mari El), located at 46 Osipenko St. and named after O.A. Tikhomirova. In the period 2022-2023, an inventory of woody and shrubby plants was carried out using generally accepted methods [9], and an inventory plan and statement were compiled. Thus, the condition of the tree and shrub plantations on the territory of school No. 2 in the city of Yoshkar-Ola, named after O.A. Tikhomirova, can be assessed as satisfactory. At the same time, the largest number of trees and shrubs belongs to the second vital category, where species such as hanging birch and small-leaved linden predominate. The number of drying plants is minimal – only one specimen of a cultivated apple tree. In general, the environmental situation on the territory of the educational institution is favorable, creating optimal conditions for children and teachers to stay outdoors. However, it should be noted that certain areas of the schoolyard could be improved by planting new ornamental shrubs. This would not only diversify the flora of the area, but also make it more attractive from an aesthetic point of view. In addition, such an event would help to increase the level of biological diversity on the school grounds, which would have a positive impact on the overall environmental situation.

The Building Data Genome Directory – An open, comprehensive data sharing platform for building performance research

The building sector plays a crucial role in the worldwide decarbonization effort, accounting for significant portions of energy consumption and environmental effects. However, the scarcity of open data sources is a continuous challenge for built environment researchers and practitioners. Although several efforts have been made to consolidate existing open datasets, no database currently offers a comprehensive collection of building data types with all subcategories and time granularities (e.g., year, month, and sub-hour). This paper presents the Building Data Genome Directory, an open data-sharing platform serving as a one-stop shop for the data necessary for vital categories of building energy research. The data directory is an online portal (buildingdatadirectory.org/) that allows filtering and discovering valuable datasets. The directory covers meter, building-level, and aggregated community-level data at the spatial scale and year-to-minute level at the temporal scale. The datasets were consolidated from a comprehensive exploration of sources, including governments, research institutes, and online energy dashboards. The results of this effort include the aggregation of 60 datasets pertaining to building energy ontologies, building energy models, building energy and water data, electric vehicle data, weather data, building information data, text-mining-based research data, image data of buildings, fault detection diagnosis data and occupant data. A crowdsourcing mechanism in the platform allows users to submit datasets they suggest for inclusion by filling out an online form. This directory can fuel research and applications on building energy efficiency, which is an essential step toward addressing the world’s energy and environmental challenges.

Factors shaping human capital in rural areas

Human capital is a vital category of the economy in order to achieve economic stability. The combination of certain personal, social, professional business skills, abilities and motivation help to increase the efficiency of production in the rural areas.. The goal of this publication is to analyze and explore some factors of human capital formation in rural areas. The study covers demographic trends, educational attainment, technological changes, availability of health facilities in rural areas. On the basis of the analytical part of the report, conclusions are drawn on the potential of human capital to achieve a sustainable and stable rural areas.

Феномен сакрализации воды в религиозных доминантах монгольских народов

Water as a natural phenomenon is one of the most revered objects in the religious culture of the Mongolian peoples. The sacralization of water not only as an ethnocultural phenomenon in the space of the Great Steppe, but also as a vital category of life support is recorded in almost all areas of religious practices of the Mongolian sphere from the most archaic to developed practices of Buddhist culture, which spread among the Mongolian peoples in different chronological periods. At the same time, despite some ethno-differentiating features, the practice of veneration of the Water by the Mongolian meta-ethnic community is a unique ethno-consolidating argument in its structure.

Calling for ‘The New Cultural Normal’

Aim: This research aims to understand the value of individuals having several inherent cultures and explore their specific needs and skills to improve managing cultural challenges in the work environment. The emerging conceptual framework of reaching ‘The New Cultural Normal’ demonstrates opportunities for dealing with cross-cultural situations not only internationally but especially intra-national.
 Design / Research methods: Based on insights and narratives of bicultural employees collected through 18 interviews, several vital categories emerged followed by the attribution of each to a corporate setting and considering which has the most substantial influence on that category. As biculturalism is an extreme form of coping with cultural diversity, the interviewees represent vital experts in coping with culturally diverse challenges.
 Conclusion / Findings: The emerging concept of reaching ‘The New Cultural Normal’ describes the process of attaining the status of full integration of biculturalism among organizations. It will help each corporate setting level, defined as bicultural employees, colleagues, supervisors, and the company, to enhance their awareness of dealing with cross-cultural situations.
 Originality / value of the article: This study provides a beneficial starting tool for shaping the future workplace where more inclusion and contentment will lead to qualitative improved team outcomes thus increasing corporate performance and can even result in long-term societal changes.

Lives in Fact and Fiction

Two, not unconnected, important events, respectively for sociology and literature, occurred during the British post-Second-World-War economic boom. For sociology it was a large, influential study of occupational relations by Goldthorpe and Lockwood et al entitled The Affluent Worker. For literature it was the highly original, social realist novel of a slice of working-class life by Alan Sillitoe entitled Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Both these accounts of mainly male working-class lives were not only influential in their time but have remained so – each being separately a reference point for continuing academic study. Additionally, both works noted the importance for individuals of increases in disposable income and the associated pleasurable outcomes. In considering these works together it is not the intention, here, to take either work out of its own vital category or to reduce either to a version of the other but merely to bear in mind Roger Pincott’s observation that, “There is no prima facie reason why the literature written in a given society should be less interesting or informative to the sociologist than, say, that society’s stratification system” (Pincott, 1970: 177).

Barriers in Implementing Total Quality Management in Organizations: A Literature Review

Present-day customers are very conscious of the quality of products and services. They are ready to pay a higher price for a quality product or service. A company that meets such demands gains a competitive advantage in the market over its competitors. One of the best approaches to address this challenge is the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM, a systematic management approach and a journey to meet competitive and technological challenges, has been accepted by both service and manufacturing organizations globally. It is commonly agreed that by adopting TQM, the overall effectiveness and performance of organizations can be improved. Despite TQM offers numerous benefits, it is not an easy task to implement it. It is generally experienced that implementation of TQM is hard and painful due to certain barriers that inhibit the successful implementation of TQM. Understanding the factors that are likely to obstruct TQM implementation enables managers to develop more effective strategies for achieving business excellence. Therefore, the purpose of this literature-based paper is to identify the barriers in implementing TQM in business organizations. An extensive literature review was carried out to achieve this objective. The barriers in implementing TQM were identified under three main thematic areas namely: managerial issues, people-oriented issues and organizational issues. Under managerial issues, there are five barriers which hinder the successful implementation of TQM; lack of communication, lack of top-management commitment, lack of coordination between departments, no benchmarking and poor planning. There are four barriers under the category of the people-oriented issue namely, employee resistance to change, lack of proper training and education, inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork, and human resource barrier. Moreover, three barriers were identified under organizational issues, i.e. lack of continuous improvement culture, the attitude of employees towards quality, and high turnover at management level. Among these three categories, managerial issues were the most vital category followed by people-oriented issues and organizational issues. However, an in-depth empirical investigation is needed to explore the barriers in implementing TQM in the context of Sri Lankan organizations.
 Keywords: Total Quality Management, Barriers, Implementation

Frame analysis as one of the effective methods of newspaper discourse studying

This paper outlines the study of the USA newspaper discourse from psycholinguistic perspectives. The research aims to thoroughly investigate the profound priorities, inconspicuous intentions of leading American mass media. The frame analysis has been used in our research. It is based on the cognitive theories of the representation of the speaker’s knowledge, which retain verbal representation in speech, that is, frames. The main task of this analysis is to determine the leading categories, expressed by frame structures, which include slots containing the main ideas that the author wants to present to his audience. The research went through some stages which aimed at working on the most essential categories in the three articles and filling all the categories with the appropriate slots. The study revealed that most of the articles had three substantial categories which made it possible to fully analyze the authors’ intentions. The slot surveillance that makes the category vigilance very prominent is the paramount idea found in all the articles under discussion. It is realized via facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence. Among other vital categories are technological advances, protection, confidentiality, social interaction, credit system, personal data. All these categories have one thing in common as they are used as means for China people surveillance.

Radial Growth of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Lichen Pine Forests and Woodlands of the Northern Taiga

The vitality structure of forest stands and the annual radial increment of Scots pine trees of different vital state categories growing in the northern taiga middle-aged lichen pine forests and woodlands of the Kola Peninsula have been studied. This study has shown a prevalence (60–75%) of weakened and strongly weakened trees in the Scots pine forests and woodlands; the fraction of healthy trees does not exceed 15–20% (30% in terms of the stand volume). In the age range of 30–85 years, the radial growth of Scots pine trees in the communities studied decreases 1.5- to 3.5-fold, and the annual basal area increases 1.5- to 5-fold. Differentiation of trees of differing vitality in relation to the radial increment is clearly manifested starting from 50 years after the fire. The ratio between the annual basal areas of healthy, weakened, strongly weakened, and dying trees in pine forests and woodlands is 8 : 5 : 2.5 : 1 and 11 : 5.5 : 3.5 : 1, respectively. The difference between the resource potentials of pine woodlands and forests is 1 : 1.6 and is manifested at the level of communities, but not at the level of individuals.

Condition of plants and populations of Trientalis europaea L. within forest phytocenoses of Ukrainian Left Bank

Based on the use of morphometric and vitality analysis, the condition of plants and populations of Trientalis europaea L. in 10 phytocenoses of coniferous, mixed, small-leaved and deciduous forests, typical for the Left Bank of Ukraine, was assessed. The morphometric analysis took into account seven static and two allometric indicators. Vitality analysis was conducted according to the method of Yu.A. Zlobin, based on the height of plants, total phytomass and leaf surface area. It is shown that plants from different forest vegetation conditions are statistically significantly different in the values of all studied morphoparameters and in each phytocenosis the formation of Trientalis europaea ramets of characteristic size and morphostructure takes place, which is clearly proved on the basis of morphograms. That is, the adaptation of plants of this species to habitat conditions occurs with the widespread implementation of morphoadaptations, which are accompanied by the manifestation of both morphological variability and morphological plasticity.
 The consequence and manifestation of the adaptation of Trientalis europea ramets to habitat conditions is the differentiation of plants according to the level of vitality, and, as a result, the formation of populations of different qualitative types. In the forest phytocenoses of the Left Bank of Ukraine, populations of all three vitality categories are represented: depressed, balanced and prosperous.
 Among the studied groups, the share of depressed populations is only 10 %. So, the results of vitality analysis indicate a fairly high level of viability of populations of Trientalis europea in forest phytocenoses of Ukraine. Prosperous populations with a high capacity for sustainable functioning are formed under the tent of coniferous, small-leaved and deciduous forests. The decline in plant viability and size is mainly due to an increase in the general closure of the upper tiers of the forest, an increase in the density and projective cover of species forming grass-shrub tiers, as well as on wet soils.

Prioritization of Medicine Importation by the Private Sector in Sudan: Evidence from a Data Analysis, 2012-2015

ObjectivesThe objective of this study is to analyze the annual medicines imported by private sector for the period between 2012 and 2015 with the help of priority system based on ABC-VEN matrix analysis and therapeutic category analysis. MethodsA retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The Always, Better, and Control (ABC) analysis based on drug expenditure and Vital, Essential, and Nonessential (VEN) analysis based on the criticality of the drugs was performed for annual importation in 2015. ResultsUsing ABC analysis, we found that 47 items (9.2%) accounted for 70% of the budget (class A), whereas a larger numbers of items (344; 67.2%) accounted for only 10% of the importation costs (class C). A moderate number of items (120; 23.5%) comprised 20% of the annual medicine importation value (class B). VEN analysis revealed that 89 items (17.4%) in the vital category constituted 41.6% of the importation value, whereas 349 (68.3%) grouped as essential constituted 45.1% of the value, and 73 (14.2%) of the items considered as nonessential medicines consumed only 13.3% of the total medicines imported in 2015. From the resultant ABC-VEN coupled matrix, three categories were created I, II and III. ConclusionIn view of limited resources, it is important that the existing resources should be utilized appropriately. This study identified a range of suggestions for better medication importation. The ABC and VEN analyses along with the therapeutic category analysis technique are convenient, systematic, and replicable methods and should be adopted for optimization and prioritization of resources.

Limited Prognostic Utility of a Simplified Vital Sign Based Risk Calculator in Acute Medical Admissions

Background: Accurate efficient prognostication in acute medical admissions remains challenging.Methods: We constructed a Vital Sign based Risk Calculator using vital parameters and Major Disease Categories to predict 30-day in-hospital mortality using a multivariable fractional polynomial model. Results: We evaluated 113,807 admissions in 58,126 patients. The Vital Sign based Risk Calculator predicted 30-day inhospital mortality to increase from 2 points – 3.6% (95%CI 3.4, 3.7) to 12 points – 14.8% (95%CI 14.0, 15.7). AUROC was 0.74 (95%CI 0.72, 0.74). The addition of illness severity and comorbidity data improved AUROC to 0.90 (95%CI 0.89, 0.90). Conclusion: The Vital Sign based Risk Calculator is limited by its simplicity; inclusion of illness severity and comorbidity data improve prediction.

50 YOM with Shoulder Impingement Syndrome Improves with Neuro-Rehabilitation

50 YOM with Shoulder Impingement Syndrome Improves with Neuro-Rehabilitation

Towards the Task-Level Optimal Orchestration Mechanism in Multi-Device Multi-Task Architecture for Mission-Critical IoT Applications

Internet of Things is advancing, and the augmented role of architecture in automating processes is at its vanguard. Mission-critical applications are becoming a vital category of future IoT applications, and due to the advancements in the 5G, the design of mission-critical application overcome a big hurdle. Mission-critical applications must be reliable, and the output should be known in advance. Therefore, to model such application, architecture is considered the cornerstone. One of the major requirements is the flexibility of the operation and the adaptability to new devices. In this paper, an optimal orchestration mechanism is proposed to automate the processes in a conventional multi-device and multi-task mission-critical architecture for flexible and scalable operations. The central goal of this paper is to threefold; first, to model tasks in such a way to maximize the flexibility in the operation plane. Secondly, to design a strongly correlated pair which has maximum relation and thus the chance to hit the task on the devices will be potentially maximized and also the idle time among operations is minimal. Lastly, to register devices in a network which is optimal for the group of this device in terms of correlation. We propose a multi-layer particle swarm optimization for each of the optimization objectives. Results show that the operation plan is flexible and with scaling up the problem size, the orchestration is still graceful and within the requirements of mission-critical applications. The performance of multi-level particle swarm optimization is compared with conventional single-level particle swarm optimization and it has been learned that the later is not only slower but also less accurate.