Edwards Lifesciences (Switzerland)

Xylanase is an industrially important enzyme widely applied in pulp and paper, food, feed, brewing, and biorefinery industries. The present study focuses on the isolation, screening, strain improvement, and comparative evaluation of xylanase production by wild and mutated Bacillus spp. Soil samples were collected from the vicinity of Somics Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd., Bareilly, and bacterial isolates were obtained using serial dilution and spread plate techniques. Xylanase-producing isolates were screened qualitatively on xylan agar plates using the Congo red assay. The most potent isolate was subjected to strain improvement through physical and chemical mutagenesis. Identification was performed using morphological, microscopic, and biochemical characterization. Xylanase production was quantified using the DNS method, while protein estimation was carried out using the Bradford assay. Comparative analysis revealed enhanced xylanase activity in the mutated strain compared to the wild type, indicating the effectiveness of strain improvement strategies. The study highlights the potential of improved Bacillus strains for industrial-scale xylanase production.

The U.S. retail sector, a $7 trillion economic engine, is undergoing rapid transformation fueled by digital commerce, shifting consumer expectations, and intensified competition. At the heart of this shift lies the imperative to modernize customer service infrastructure. This paper explores how Salesforce Service Cloud—a leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform—can be strategically deployed to optimize service delivery, reduce churn, and support omnichannel responsiveness across the retail value chain. We begin by contextualizing the urgency of service innovation, drawing on recent data showing that U.S. companies lose over $75 billion annually due to poor customer experiences. We then examine Salesforce Service Cloud’s capabilities, including AI-driven case management, real-time analytics, automation, and integration with e-commerce platforms. Through use-case illustrations and performance metrics, we demonstrate how these features enable faster resolution times, improved customer satisfaction, and more efficient use of the retail workforce. Importantly, we highlight the platform’s role in enhancing employment efficiency for over 2.7 million Americans working in customer-facing roles, enabling frontline staff to shift from routine inquiries to high-value engagement. Finally, we position CRM modernization within the broader context of U.S. economic priorities, referencing Executive Order 14058 and other federal mandates that call for customer experience transformation. Our findings support the conclusion that Service Cloud is more than a software solution—it is critical infrastructure for ensuring that the U.S. retail sector remains competitive, resilient, and aligned with the digital economy of the future. Keywords: Customer Experience, Salesforce, Retail Sector, Digital Commerce.

Abstract Background Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting ~ 10% of reproductive-age women, often causing pelvic pain and infertility. Despite its prevalence, diagnosis remains delayed due to non-specific symptoms and lack of reliable non-invasive biomarkers. Emerging evidence implicates the microbiome in disease pathogenesis. Results We analyzed uterine microbiomes from 266 tissue samples collected during either the proliferative or secretory phase, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Genus-level analysis revealed variable Lactobacillus abundance among all individuals. Prevotella showed borderline enrichment in proliferative-phase patients. Sub-genus analyses identified a small number of differentially abundant taxa, though none remained significant after FDR correction. To capture subtle microbial shifts, we developed a feature set combining weakly differential taxa, algorithmically selected taxa via machine-learning, and a functional dysbiosis score. A supervised classifier trained on proliferative-phase data achieved moderate predictive performance (AUC = 0.70), while secretory-phase models performed poorly (AUC = 0.58). Conclusion The uterine microbiome shows phase-dependent differences in its potential to inform endometriosis status. Although no robust individual microbial biomarkers were identified, machine-learning models incorporating subtle community features from the proliferative phase yielded modest diagnostic potential. These results highlight the importance of menstrual cycle-aware sampling and support further development of microbiome-informed diagnostic tools for endometriosis.

Entrevista com Oswaldo Truzzi. Sociólogo da UFSCar reconstrói sua trajetória de pesquisa e destaca a necessidade de criação de novas frentes de estudo envolvendo identidade, memória e refúgio.

Although women with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis have more complications than men when undergoing surgical valve replacement, they are under-represented in clinical trials. The Randomized researcH in womEn all comers wIth Aortic stenosis (RHEIA) trial investigates the balance of benefits and risks of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) vs. surgery in women. Women were randomized 1:1 to transfemoral TAVI with a balloon-expandable valve or surgery. The primary composite endpoint was death, stroke, or (valve, procedure or heart failure related) rehospitalization at 1 year. Non-inferiority testing with a pre-specified 6% margin and superiority testing were performed in the as-treated population. At 48 European centres, 443 women underwent randomization, and 420 were treated as randomized. Mean age was 73 years, and the mean estimated surgical risk of death was 2.1% (Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk score). Kaplan-Meier estimates of the primary endpoint event rates at 1 year were 8.9% in the TAVI and 15.6% in the surgery group. This difference of -6.8% with an upper 95% confidence limit of -1.5% demonstrated the non-inferiority of TAVI (P < .001). The two-sided 95% confidence interval of -13.0% to -.5% further resulted in superiority (P = .034). The 1-year incidence of the primary endpoint components was: .9% with TAVI vs. 2.0% with surgery for death from any cause, 3.3% vs. 3.0% for stroke, and 5.8% vs. 11.4% for rehospitalization. Among women with severe aortic stenosis, the incidence of the composite of death, stroke, or rehospitalization at 1 year was lower with TAVI than with surgery. NCT04160130.