The decision to relocate or to age in place can be a difficult one, mitigated by a variety of influencing factors such as finances, physical abilities, as well as social and instrumental support from family and others. This study focuses on the stresses of residential relocation to independent and assisted living facilities among older women living in Lexington, Kentucky. Participation entailed three semi-structured interviews as well as saliva and blood sampling over a period of 6 months, beginning within one month of the move. Measures of cortisol were used as indicators of stress reactivity. Distinct patterns of cortisol response have been identified, with those who indicated the relocation was the result of health issues or anticipated health issues showing the greatest degree of physiological stress reactivity. The majority of women reveal satisfactory psychosocial adjustment, with women indicating the move was facilitated by need for caring for ailing family showing the least amount of facility integration. Significant life events appear to be related to social integration, stress reactivity, and perceptions of facility life over the course of the first six months in residence. These results have implications for facility managers with regard to facilitation of new and prospective resident acclimation and possible interventions aimed at reducing adaptation time among those on waitlists for such facilities.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of temperature on inducing an alkaline-tolerance response in L. monocytogenes (Lm) serotypes 1/2a and 4b. When Lm cells were pre-exposed to a sublethal alkali pH of 9.0 at different temperatures, two main patterns were observed: (1) Alkali-stress adaptation was readily induced in Lm when cells were pre-exposed to a sublethal alkali pH of 9.0 for 5-15 min at 37°C or 22°C; and (2) Alkali-stress adaptation was not induced in Lm when cells were pre-exposed to a sublethal alkali pH of 9.0 for 1 h at 4°C. However, exposure of Lm to 4°C for 24 h enhanced its survival against lethal alkaline challenge (pH 11.5). Also, alkali-stress adaptation if occurred at 37°C or 22°C was highly stable at 4ºC even in the absence of mild alkaline stress which should be taken into account while conducting risk analysis for this pathogen.

A set of 37 strains including 13 serotypes of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) were analyzed for heat tolerance at 60°C for 10 min and further categorized into three groups; low (strains with <2 log survival), medium (2-4 log survival), and high (4-6 log survival) heat tolerant. When Lm strains representing each group were subjected to sub-lethal heatstress at 48°C prior to 60°C, the survivals of all strains were increased by at least 5 log CFU/ml when compared to controls. Sub-lethal heat-stress at 48°C for 30-60 min increased the heat-stress resistance of Lm strains by doubling D60°C values from 1.9-4.3 to 5.0-10.4 min. When Lm cells were cooled after sublethal heat-stress at 48°C prior to 60°C treatment, such acquired heat-stress adaptation was unstable at 22°C but was found to be highly stable for up to 24 h at 4°C. These results will have potential implications in food safety risk analysis for Lm.

Acid-stress adaptation in Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) serotype 4b and 1/2a occurred when cells were pre-exposed to pH 5.0 tryptic soy broth supplemented with yeast extract (TSB-YE) at 22°C or 37°C but not at 4°C. Prolonged time, varied sublethal acid pH, substitute of acidulants and addition of sodium chloride during 4°C mild acid pre-exposure still did not induce acid-stress adaptation in Lm. This finding was also validated using an acidic cheese, similar to what has seen for Gram-negative bacteria E. coli and Salmonella. Further investigation revealed that major cold shock protein in Lm CspL was not responsible for repressed acid-stress adaptation at 4°C. A bead beating treatment prior to mild acid pre-exposure at 4°C partially induced acid-stress adaptation after pre-exposure in 4°C to mild acid stress. Our data suggests that cold processing or cold storage temperature can lower the possibility of activating acid-stress adaptation in Lm.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1988.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1988.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1988.

L’expression génique présente un caractère stochastique qui génère une variabilité phénotypique entre cellules individuelles, ce qui pourrait augmenter et favoriser l’adaptation des microorganismes dans des environnements sélectifs. Des modifications génétiques de promoteurs augmentant la variabilité d’expression pourraient avoir été sélectionnées dans des souches industrielles de Saccharomyces cerevisiae grâce à l’avantage qu’elles confèrent dans des conditions stressantes. Nous avons utilisé une approche génomique pour identifier des promoteurs conférant une forte variabilité d’expression dans la souche de vin industrielle EC1118. De nombreux promoteurs identifiés sont liés à des facteurs environnementaux. Certains d'entre eux contiennent des variations génétiques par rapport à leur homologue dans la souche de laboratoire S288c. Ces variations pourraient être responsables d’une augmentation de variabilité d’expression. Chacun des deux variantes de huit promoteurs a été fusionné avec yEGFP et intégré dans le génome des deux souches au même locus. Certains variantes industriels augmentent l’expression moyenne tout en présentant, comme attendu, moins de variabilité, mais d'autres augmentent ou diminuent l’expression sans modifier la variabilité, de telle sorte qu’ils pourraient présenter un niveau de variabilité différent à moyenne égale. Dans différentes conditions d’induction du promoteur CUP1 donnant des niveaux d’expression similaire pour les deux variantes, nous avons en effet observé que le variant industriel produit la variabilité la plus élevé, mais seulement dans la souche industrielle. Ceci démontre l’existence d’un phénomène d’épistasie dans la génération de la variabilité d’expression. Nous avons aussi observé que cette différence de variabilité est suffisante pour conférer un avantage dans un environnement sélectif. Par conséquent, la modulation de la variabilité d'expression génique par une combinaison de modifications de promoteur et d’influences en trans est un mécanisme d'adaptation possible dans la levure. Ce travail a été prolongé par l’étude de nombreux promoteurs produisant des profils d’expression bimodaux identifiés lors de l’approche génomique initiale, afin de mieux comprendre l’origine et le contrôle de ce type d’expression. Enfin, un travail concernant le lien potentiel entre variabilité d’expression et variabilité génétique a été engagé par l’utilisation d’un substrat de recombinaison homologue et de paires de promoteurs permettant d’exprimer des gènes impactant la recombinaison à un niveau moyen similaire mais des niveaux de variabilité différents. / The increase in phenotypic variability through gene expression noise is proposed to be an evolutionary strategy in selective environments. Differences in promoter-mediated noise between Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains could have been selected for thanks to the benefit conferred by gene expression heterogeneity in the stressful conditions, for instance, those experienced by industrial strains. In the first part of this thesis, we used a genome-wide approach to identify promoters conferring high noise levels in the industrial wine strain EC1118. Many promoters of genes related to environmental factors were identified, some of them containing genetic variations compared to their counterpart in the laboratory strain S288c. Each variant of eight promoters has been fused to yEGFP and integrated in the genome of both strains. Some industrial variants conferred higher expression associated, as expected, to lower noise, but other variants either increased or decreased expression without modifying variability, so that they might exhibit different levels of transcriptional-mediated noise at equal mean. At different induction conditions giving similar expression for both variants of the CUP1 promoter (pCUP1), we indeed observed higher noise with the industrial variant. Nevertheless, this difference was only observed in the industrial strain, revealing epistasis in the generation of promoter-mediated noise. Moreover, the increased expression variability conferred by this natural yeast promoter variant provided a clear benefit in the face of an environmental stress. Thus modulation of gene expression noise by a combination of promoter modifications and trans-influences might be a possible adaptation mechanism in yeast. This work was extended by the study of some promoters conferring bimodal expression profiles identified in the initial genomic approach to better understand the origin and the control of this expression pattern. Finally, works on the potential link between gene expression variability and genetic variability was carried out by the use of homologous recombination materials and a pair of promoters conferring similar mean level but different levels of variability for genes affecting recombination.

Oenococcus oeni est l’agent principalement responsable de la fermentation malolactique durant la vinification. Son adaptation au milieu vin est une étape clé dans la réussite de la FML, et donc dans la qualité des vins finis. Cependant, au sein de l’espèce, il existe une variabilité phénotypique importante, et de nombreuses souches ne sont ainsi pas aptes à réaliser la FML. La sélection des meilleures souches œnologiques passe ainsi par l’analyse de la diversité d’O. oeni. Cette étude a été abordée dans cette thèse, selon trois grands axes de recherche. Premièrement, la diversité génétique a été étudiée par des approches MLST, REA-PFGE et présence de marqueurs, et a montré une structuration de l’espèce en deux groupes phylogénétiques et plusieurs sous-groupes, reliés à des souches d’origine géographique précise. Ensuite, l’étude de la diversité phénotypique a montré la grande variabilité d’adaptation au vin des souches étudiées et un meilleur comportement de celles du groupe phylogénétique A durant la vinification. Enfin, une étude transcriptomique a mis en lumière certains mécanismes moléculaires éventuellement impliqués dans la réponse au stress vin chez O. oeni. / Oenococcus oeni is the main agent responsible for the malolactic fermentation, during the wine making process. Its adaptation to wine environment is a key step for the success of the MLF, and then for wines quality. However, there is a high phenotypic variability among the species and several strains are unable to perform MLF. The selection of the best enological strains implies starting by analyzing the diversity of O. oeni. This study has been divided in three main themes of research. Firstly, the genetic diversity has been analyzed using several approaches, MLST, REA-PFGE and presence of genetic markers. That study proved the structuration of the species in two phylogenetic groups and several subgroups, related to geographical areas. Secondly, the study of the phenotypic diversity showed that all the studied strains present a high variability and the best behavior in wine making conditions is found in those from the phylogenetic group A. Finally, a transcriptional analysis has revealed some molecular mechanisms possibly implicated in stress response in O. oeni