Sporulation rate in culture and mycoparasitic activity, but not mycohost specificity, are the key factors for selecting Ampelomyces strains for biocontrol of grapevine powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator)

To develop a new biofungicide product against grapevine powdery mildew, caused by Erysiphe necator, cultural characteristics and mycoparasitic activities of pre-selected strains of Ampelomyces spp. were compared in laboratory tests to the commercial strain AQ10. Then, a 2-year experiment was performed in five vineyards with a selected strain, RS1-a, and the AQ10 strain. This consisted of autumn sprays in vineyards as the goal was to reduce the number of chasmothecia of E. necator, and, thus, the amount of overwintering inocula, instead of targeting the conidial stage of the pathogen during spring and summer. This is a yet little explored strategy to manage E. necator in vineyards. Laboratory tests compared the growth and sporulation of colonies of a total of 33 strains in culture; among these, eight strains with superior characteristics were compared to the commercial product AQ10 Biofungicide® in terms of their intrahyphal spread, pycnidial production, and reduction of both asexual and sexual reproduction in E. necator colonies. Mycoparasitic activities of the eight strains isolated from six different powdery mildew species, including E. necator, did not depend on their mycohost species of origin. Strain RS1-a, isolated from rose powdery mildew, showed, togetherwith three strains from E. necator, the highest rate of parasitism of E. necator chasmothecia. In field experiments, each strain, AQ10 and RS1-a, applied twice in autumn, significantly delayed and reduced early-season development of grapevine powdery mildew in the next year. Therefore, instead of mycohost specificity of Ampelomyces presumed in some works, but not confirmed by this study, the high sporulation rate in culture and the mycoparasitic patterns became the key factors for proposing strain RS1-a for further development as a biocontrol agent of E. necator

Where are the pregnant and breastfeeding women in new pre-exposure prophylaxis trials? The imperative to overcome the evidence gap

Pregnant and breastfeeding populations are at substantial risk of acquiring HIV in some settings, yet are underrepresented in clinical trials of new pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) agents. Several PrEP formulations are in development (eg, vaginal rings, long-acting injectables, and other modalities). Pregnant and breastfeeding populations are typically excluded from initial clinical trials. We identified 14 PrEP trials of novel agents in non-pregnant or non-breastfeeding populations, and six phase 1–3 trials and open label extensions among pregnant and breastfeeding populations, that are currently ongoing or complete. A framework shift is needed to consider the ethical costs of excluding pregnant and breastfeeding populations at risk for HIV in PrEP clinical trials and promote inclusion to maximise the benefits from PrEP tools in the pipeline. Research on new PrEP agents should include pregnant and breastfeeding populations to avoid delays in reaching those who could benefit from PrEP after efficacy is established.https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/homehj2023Paediatrics and Child Healt

Group B Streptococcus vaccine development: present status and future considerations, with emphasis on perspectives for low and middle income countries.

Globally, group B Streptococcus (GBS) remains the leading cause of sepsis and meningitis in young infants, with its greatest burden in the first 90 days of life. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) for women at risk of transmitting GBS to their newborns has been effective in reducing, but not eliminating, the young infant GBS disease burden in many high income countries. However, identification of women at risk and administration of IAP is very difficult in many low and middle income country (LMIC) settings, and is not possible for home deliveries. Immunization of pregnant women with a GBS vaccine represents an alternate pathway to protecting newborns from GBS disease, through the transplacental antibody transfer to the fetus in utero. This approach to prevent GBS disease in young infants is currently under development, and is approaching late stage clinical evaluation. This manuscript includes a review of the natural history of the disease, global disease burden estimates, diagnosis and existing control options in different settings, the biological rationale for a vaccine including previous supportive studies, analysis of current candidates in development, possible correlates of protection and current status of immunogenicity assays. Future potential vaccine development pathways to licensure and use in LMICs, trial design and implementation options are discussed, with the objective to provide a basis for reflection, rather than recommendations

Filthy operative rooms and other mistakes during movies on neurosurgical procedures: Fascinating and powerful neurosurgical scenarios presented, in different ways, to non-neurosurgical society. How many mistakes and stereotypes can be made in movies for people not daily involved in medical life?

Objectives: The brain and people “manipulating” it, provide a very mysterious and fascinating substrate for a movie. Faithful representation of reality often represent a key for the success of a film. Nonetheless, while watching movies with neurosurgical scenes, we often observed actions and elements containing incredible errors that aroused opposing emotions. The aim of this study was to perform an extensive review examining the representations of neurosurgery in movies, especially focused on the analysis of neurosurgical gross mistakes. Patient and methods: We looked for any movie that featured a neurosurgeon or a scene including a neurosurgical disease or procedure. We used one of the largest internet movie databases available online (IMDb.com) with searching for keywords such as “neurosurgeon”, “neurosurgery”, and “craniotomy”. Title, year, genre and cost of production were collected. The first three features were detected on IMDb.com; the costs of production were found in websites the-numbers.com and boxofficemojo.com. Analysis and selection were performed by AM and PDB. Result: 73 movies were found. After the application of inclusion/exclusion criteria, 58 have been eligible for inclusion in the study (Table 1) and 15 have been excluded from the final analysis”. Out of 45 movies watched, we found 32 neurosurgical mistakes. Mistakes were classified into four big groups, namely: “surgical asepsis and principles of sterile technique” (n = 13, 40 %); “conceptual mistakes (n = 10, 31.5 %)”; “incorrect use of surgical tools (n = 7, 22 %)”; “anatomical and radiological mistakes (n = 2, 6.5 %)”. The costs of production started from 11.000 US dollars (Vsivaci, 2014) to 200 millions dollars (Spiderman 2, 2004), with a median value of 8.2 millions dollars each. All mistakes were not useful for the correct progress of the movie. Conclusion: Our review shows that several mistakes, especially on asepsis during surgery are present in films dealing with neurosurgery. Several movies costed up to millions of dollars. Would a consultation of a Neurosurgeon before/during the shooting narrow the gap between the reality and fiction

Evaluation of surface and microstructure of differently plasticized chitosan films

Surface and structural investigations of natural biopolymer (chitosan) films containing various conventionally applied hydrophilic plasticizers (glycerol and poly(ethylene glycol) 400)were performed and the results were compared, with the aim of acquiring new information concerning the formation of these plasticized films. The surface tests revealed that the water uptake, the water-binding properties (moisture content) and the polarity were higher for the film containing glycerol as plasticizer. Positronium lifetime measurements and NMR studies performed to evaluate the effects of the plasticizer on the polymer structure demonstrated relevant differences in the effects of the plasticizers. The influence of glycerol on the structure of the film formed was more intensive than that of PEG 400. It can be concluded that the surface properties of the films, which are very important for their storage and application, cannot be established exactly by means of structural tests. Both surface and structural tests must be performed before the formulation of this type of plasticized mucoadhesive films

Molecular interactions of ErbB1 (EGFR) and integrin-ß1 in astrocytoma frozen sections predict clinical outcome and correlate with Akt-mediated in vitro radioresistance

Introduction. Treatment of astrocytoma is frequently hampered by radioresistance of the tumor. In addition to overexpression of ErbB1/EGFR, functional crosstalk between receptor tyrosine kinases and cell adhesion molecules may also contribute to therapy resistance. Methods. Acceptor photobleaching FRET was implemented on frozen sections of clinical astrocytoma to check the role of ErbB1–integrin-b1 interaction. U251 glioma subclones were obtained by introducing extra CHR7 material or the ErbB1 gene to test the relevance and mechanism of this interaction in vitro. Results. Grade IV tumors showed higher ErbB1 and integrin-b1 expression and greater ErbB1–integrin-b1 heteroassociation than did grade II tumors. Of these, the extent of molecular association was a single determinant of tumor grade and prognosis in stepwise logistic regression. In vitro, integrin-b1 was upregulated, and radiosensitivity was diminished by ectopic ErbB1 expression. Great excess of ErbB1 provided colony forming advantage over mediumexcess but did not yield better radiation resistance or faster proliferationand decreased tomedium level over time, whereas integrin-b1 levels remained elevated and defined the extent of radioresistance. Increased expression of ErbB1 and integrin-b1 was paralleled by decreasing ErbB1 homoassociation and increasing ErbB1–integrin-b1 heteroassociation. Microscopic two-sided FRET revealed that pixels with higher ErbB1– integrin-b1 heteroassociation exhibited lowed ErbB1 homoassociation, indicating competition for association partners among these molecules. Boosted Akt phosphorylation response to EGF accompanied this shift toward heteroassociation, and the consequentially increased radioresistance could be reverted by inhibiting PI3K. Conclusion. The clinically relevant ErbB1–integrin-b1 heteroassociation may be used as a target of both predictive diagnostics and molecular therapy

Methods for screening new Ampelomyces strains to be used as biocontrol agents against grapevine powdery mildew

Grapevine powdery mildew is a key disease all across Europe and is currently controlled almost exclusively using fungicides. To develop a new biofungicide product against this disease, caused by Erysiphe necator, a large culture collection of Ampelomyces strains collected worldwide from different powdery mildew species was screened to assess for the first time the level of variability of different characteristics of these biocontrol agents known to occur as natural mycoparasites of powdery mildews in the field. This preliminary screening revealed a considerable diversity in many characteristics of different Ampelomyces strains including both culture patterns and mycoparasitic activities against the asexual and sexual stages of E. necator. The screening protocol developed in this work could be used in further studies on Ampelomyces in order to develop new effective commercial biofungicide products against powdery mildew infections of grapevine and other crops