Physical dispersion and disappearance of bacteria in the Golfo di Palermo: the results of two surveys.

This paper reports on some results of two surveys at sea carried out in the surroundings of a urban wastewater discharge on the coast of the Golfo di Palermo, western Sicily (Italy). At the time of the surveys (year 2005) the stretch of water lying before the central part of the capital town received the untreated wastewater originating from about 200 000 inhabitants, which was discharged on-shore without any prior treatment by the free-surface outfall of “Porta Felice main sewer”. This outfall has crucial importance in the water quality; indeed, the Municipality is steadily implementing a plan featuring an intercepting main sewer along the coast and some pumping stations to connect all the main sewers to the main wastewater treatment plant, located in the SE boundary area of the town. At the moment of the surveys, however, no mitigation measure had been applied yet and the quality of the Gulf was still largely affected by it. Part of the Sanitation Plan was the characterization of the seawater; to this aim, in August and November, 2005, the Università degli Studi di Palermo - on behalf of the Municipality’s Ufficio del Centro Storico - carried out two survey cruises in which the most important seawater quality features were investigated. What will be reported on herein is the part dealing with microbiological indicators, taking the salinity field as background

Features of randomized electric-field assisted domain inversion in lithium tantalate

We report on bulk and guided-wave second-harmonic generation via random Quasi-Phase-Matching in Lithium Tantalate. By acquiring the far-field profiles at several wavelengths, we extract statistical information on the distribution of the quadratic nonlinearity as well as its average period, both at the surface and in the bulk of the sample. By investigating the distribution in the two regions we demonstrate a non-invasive approach to the study of poling dynamics

Your space or mine? : Mapping self in time

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Genotypes at the APOE and SCA2 loci do not predict the course of multiple sclerosis in patients of Portuguese origin

Prova tipográfica (In Press)Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease that affects about one in 500 young Europeans. In order to test the previously proposed influence of the APOE and SCA2 loci on susceptibility to MS, we studied these loci in 243 Portuguese patients and 192 healthy controls and both parents of 92 patients. We did not detect any significant difference when APOE and SCA2 allele frequencies of cases and controls were compared, or when we compared cases with different forms of the disease. Disequilibrium of transmission was tested for both loci in the 92 trios, and we did not observe segregation distortion. To test the influence of the APOE o4 and SCA2 22 CAGs alleles on severity of disease, we compared age at onset and progression rate between groups with and without those alleles. We did not observe an association of the o4 or the 22 CAGs alleles with rate of progression in our total patient population; allele o4 was associated with increased rate of progression of MS in a subset of patients with less than 10 years of the disease. However, globally in the Portuguese population, the APOE and SCA2 genes do not seem to be useful in the clinical context as prognostic markers of this disorder.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - grant SFRH/BD/9111/2002.Serono Portugal

Chelators in Iron and Copper Toxicity

Purpose of Review Chelation therapy is used for diseases causing an imbalance of iron levels (for example haemochromatosis and thalassaemia) or copper levels (for example Menkes’ and Wilson’s diseases). Currently, most pharmaceutical chelators are relatively simple but often have side effects. Some have been taken off the market. This review attempts to find theory and knowledge required to design or find better chelators. Recent Findings Recent research attempting to understand the biological mechanisms of protection against iron and copper toxicity is reviewed. Understanding of molecular mechanisms behind normal iron/copper regulation may lead to the design of more sophisticated chelators. The theory of metal ion toxicity explains why some chelators, such as EDTA, which chelate metal ions in a way which exposes the ion to the surrounding environment are shown to be unsuitable except as a means of killing cancer cells. The Lewis theory of acids and bases suggests which amino acids favour the attachment of the hard/intermediate ions Fe2+, Fe3+, Cu2+ and soft ion Cu+. Non-polar amino acids will chelate the ion in a position not in contact with the surrounding cellular environment. The conclusion is that only the soft ion binding cysteine and methionine appear as suitable chelators. Clearly, nature has developed proteins which are less restricted. Recent research on naturally produced chelators such as siderophores and phytochemicals show some promise as pharmaceuticals. Summary Although an understanding of natural mechanisms of Fe/Cu regulation continues to increase, the pharmaceutical chelators for metal overload diseases remain simple non-protein molecules. Natural and synthetic alternatives have been studied but require further research before being accepted

Corrigendum: Azole-resistance in aspergillus terreusand related species: An emerging problem or a rare phenomenon? (Frontiers in Microbiology (2018) 9 (516) DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00516)

Raquel Sabino was not included as an author in the published article. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated. © 2019 Zoran, Sartori, Sappl, Aigner, Sánchez-Reus, Rezusta, Chowdhary, Taj-Aldeen, Arendrup, Oliveri, Kontoyiannis, Alastruey-Izquierdo, Lagrou, Lo Cascio, Meis, Buzina, Farina, Drogari-Apiranthitou, Grancini, Tortorano, Willinger, Hamprecht, Johnson, Klingspor, Arsic-Arsenijevic, Cornely, Meletiadis, Prammer, Tullio, Vehreschild, Trovato, Lewis, Segal, Rath, Hamal, Rodriguez-Iglesias, Roilides, Arikan-Akdagli, Chakrabarti, Colombo, Fernández, Martin-Gomez, Badali, Petrikkos, Klimko, Heimann, Uzun, Roudbary, de la Fuente, Houbraken, Risslegger, Sabino, Lass-Flörl and Lackner

Azole-resistance in Aspergillus terreus and related species: An emerging problem or a rare Phenomenon?

Objectives: Invasive mold infections associated with Aspergillus species are a significant cause of mortality in immunocompromised patients. The most frequently occurring aetiological pathogens are members of the Aspergillus section Fumigati followed by members of the section Terrei. The frequency of Aspergillus terreus and related (cryptic) species in clinical specimens, as well as the percentage of azole-resistant strains remains to be studied. Methods: A global set (n = 498) of A. terreus and phenotypically related isolates was molecularly identified (beta-tubulin), tested for antifungal susceptibility against posaconazole, voriconazole, and itraconazole, and resistant phenotypes were correlated with point mutations in the cyp51A gene. Results: The majority of isolates was identified as A. terreus (86.8), followed by A. citrinoterreus (8.4), A. hortai (2.6), A. alabamensis (1.6), A. neoafricanus (0.2), and A. floccosus (0.2). One isolate failed to match a known Aspergillus sp., but was found most closely related to A. alabamensis. According to EUCAST clinical breakpoints azole resistance was detected in 5.4 of all tested isolates, 6.2 of A. terreus sensu stricto (s.s.) were posaconazole-resistant. Posaconazole resistance differed geographically and ranged from 0 in the Czech Republic, Greece, and Turkey to 13.7 in Germany. In contrast, azole resistance among cryptic species was rare 2 out of 66 isolates and was observed only in one A. citrinoterreus and one A. alabamensis isolate. The most affected amino acid position of the Cyp51A gene correlating with the posaconazole resistant phenotype was M217, which was found in the variation M217T and M217V. Conclusions: Aspergillus terreus was most prevalent, followed by A. citrinoterreus. Posaconazole was the most potent drug against A. terreus, but 5.4 of A. terreus sensu stricto showed resistance against this azole. In Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom posaconazole-resistance in all A. terreus isolates was higher than 10, resistance against voriconazole was rare and absent for itraconazole. © 2018 Zoran, Sartori, Sappl, Aigner, Sánchez-Reus, Rezusta, Chowdhary, Taj-Aldeen, Arendrup, Oliveri, Kontoyiannis, Alastruey-Izquierdo, Lagrou, Cascio, Meis, Buzina, Farina, Drogari-Apiranthitou, Grancini, Tortorano, Willinger, Hamprecht, Johnson, Klingspor, Arsic-Arsenijevic, Cornely, Meletiadis, Prammer, Tullio, Vehreschild, Trovato, Lewis, Segal, Rath, Hamal, Rodriguez-Iglesias, Roilides, Arikan-Akdagli, Chakrabarti, Colombo, Fernández, Martin-Gomez, Badali, Petrikkos, Klimko, Heimann, Uzun, Roudbary, de la Fuente, Houbraken, Risslegger, Lass-Flörl and Lackner