Environmental Problems of Wastewater

Wastewater is water used for domestic and industrial needs and contaminated with additional impurities that have changed their original chemical composition and physical properties. The water basin is polluted by atmospheric precipitation, which washes out harmful man-made emissions from the air, as well as storm drains from urban areas. Intensive pollution of water bodies – surface and groundwater – gives modern agriculture with its massive livestock maintenance, intensive application of fertilizers to the soil and the use of chemicals to protect plants from pests.Одна из главных причин загрязнения водной оболочки Земли, приводящая к дефициту чистой пресной воды, – сброс в поверхностные (а через почву и в подземные) водоёмы неочищенной или недостаточно очищенной воды, содержащей загрязняющие вещества. Загрязнение окружающей природной среды – это поступление в неё веществ (твёрдых, жидких, газообразных), биологических агентов, энергии в количествах или концентрациях, превышающих естественный для данной экосистемы уровень. Как отмечается в Декларации ООН «Об окружающей среде», любое вещество считается загрязнителем, если оно встречается в ненадлежащем месте, в ненадлежащем количестве и в ненадлежащее время. И это место, количество и время «назначает» уже не природа – распорядительница жизни на Земле, а индустрия, создающая свои незамкнутые техногенные круговороты веществ, что приводит к антропогенному загрязнению всех компонентов биосферы. Сточными водами называют воды, использованные на бытовые и производственные нужды и загрязнённые при этом дополнительными примесями, изменившими их первоначальный химический состав и физические свойства. Водный бассейн загрязняется атмосферными осадками, вымывающими из воздуха вредные техногенные выбросы, а также ливневыми стоками с городской территории. Интенсивное загрязнение водных объектов – поверхностных и грунтовых вод – даёт современное сельское хозяйство с его массовым содержанием скота, интенсивным внесением в почву удобрений и использованием химических средств защиты растений от вредителей

The Gene Expression Profile of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli in Women with Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections Is Recapitulated in the Mouse Model

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the primary causative agent of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs). UPEC fitness and virulence determinants have been evaluated in a variety of laboratory settings, including a well-established mouse model of UTI. However, the extent to which bacterial physiologies differ between experimental models and human infections remains largely understudied. To address this important issue, we compared the transcriptomes of three different UPEC isolates in human infection and under a variety of laboratory conditions, including LB culture, filter-sterilized urine culture, and the UTI mouse model. We observed high correlation in gene expression between the mouse model and human infection in all three strains examined (Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.86 to 0.87). Only 175 of 3,266 (5.4%) genes shared by all three strains had significantly different expression levels, with the majority of them (145 genes) downregulated in patients. Importantly, gene expression levels of both canonical virulence factors and metabolic machinery were highly similar between the mouse model and human infection, while the in vitro conditions displayed more substantial differences. Interestingly, comparison of gene expression between the mouse model and human infection hinted at differences in bladder oxygenation as well as nutrient composition. In summary, our work strongly validates the continued use of this mouse model for the study of the pathogenesis of human UTI

Educational mathematical literature as a tool for the management trainees

The main goal of this work is to identify the factors of perception of mathematical speech, beyond its linguistic features. Authors used analysis of practice training and theoretical studies. Identified deficiencies in the mathematical speech intended for Junior students.Основная цель работы состоит в выявлении факторов восприятия математической речи, не ограничивающееся ее лингвистическими особенностями. Использованы анализ практики обучения и теоретические исследования. Выявлены недостатки в математической речи, предназначенной для студентов младших курсов

Wild-type Isogenic Standardized Hybrid (WISH)-tags for assessing population dynamics within microbiomes

Microbiomes feature recurrent compositional structures under given environmental conditions. However, these patterns may conceal diverse underlying population dynamics that are not captured when recording strain abundances using conventional amplicon sequencing and require intra-strain resolution. To approach this, we have chosen host microbiomes as an example and developed a novel genomic tagging system, termed WISH-tags that allows enumeration by both quantitative PCR and next-generation sequencing. We experimentally validated the performance of 62 tags and showed that they enable their differentiation with a dynamic range of at least five orders of magnitude with high precision and without background DNA amplification. We introduced WISH-tags into a set of model and non-model bacteria of the mouse and plant microbiota, respectively, and confirmed equal fitness of barcoded strains compared to untagged wild type strains. We then investigated intra-strain priority effects using isogenic barcoded bacteria in the murine gut and the Arabidopsis phyllosphere, both with and without microbiota context. Our findings reveal a resistance to colonization by late arriving strains of Salmonella Typhimurium in the mouse gut, whereas the phyllosphere accommodated latecomers of Sphingomonas in a proportional manner to their presence at the late inoculation timepoint. This illustrates how WISH-tags can serve as a valuable resource for deciphering the population dynamics underlying microbiome assembly, including bottlenecks, and can be applied across biological systems

<i>N. gonorrhoeae</i> infection elicits an NF-κB and p38 MAPK signaling-dependent cytokine response in CEABAC neutrophils.

<p>CEABAC-Opa interaction leads to activation of NF-κB signaling. (<b>A</b>) WT and CEABAC PMNs were left untreated or pre-incubated with DPI (10 µM) or cytochalasin D (10 mg/ml). PMNs were then infected with either Opa⁻ or Opa⁺<i>N. gonorrhoeae</i> and MIP-1α levels were measured 3 h post infection. N = 3, error bars represent SEM. One-Way ANOVA indicates no significant differences between corresponding samples. (<b>B</b>) WT and CEABAC PMNs were infected with Opa⁺<i>N. gonorrhoeae</i> (MOI = 10 bacteria/PMN) for times indicated, and levels of IkBα were then detected by immunoblot with IκBα antibody. Assessment of tubulin levels confirmed equal protein loading. (<b>C, D</b>) CEABAC-Opa interaction promotes activation of p38 MAPK. WT and CEABAC PMNS were infected as in (<b>B</b>). Activation of MAP kinases p38, Erk1, and Erk2 was determined by immunoblot with phospho-specific antibodies. Total p38 and Erk1/2 levels were assessed to ensure equal protein loading. (<b>D, F</b>) WT and CEABAC PMNs were left untreated or preincubated with (<b>D</b>) p38 inhibitor (SB203580, 10 µM) or (<b>E</b>) TAK1 inhibitor ((5z)-7-oxozeaenol, 500 nM). PMNs were then infected with either Opa⁻ or Opa⁺<i>N. gonorrhoeae</i> and MIP-1α and MIP-2 levels were measured 3 h post infection. N≥3, error bars represent SEM. One-Way ANOVA (with Tukey's post-test) was performed for relevant samples, *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. Stars indicate significance against all other conditions.</p

Global Analysis of Neutrophil Responses to <i>Neisseria gonorrhoeae</i> Reveals a Self-Propagating Inflammatory Program

<div><p>An overwhelming neutrophil-driven response causes both acute symptoms and the lasting sequelae that result from infection with <i>Neisseria gonorrhoeae</i>. Neutrophils undergo an aggressive opsonin-independent response to <i>N. gonorrhoeae</i>, driven by the innate decoy receptor CEACAM3. CEACAM3 is exclusively expressed by human neutrophils, and drives a potent binding, phagocytic engulfment and oxidative killing of Opa-expressing bacteria. In this study, we sought to explore the contribution of neutrophils to the pathogenic inflammatory process that typifies gonorrhea. Genome-wide microarray and biochemical profiling of gonococcal-infected neutrophils revealed that CEACAM3 engagement triggers a Syk-, PKCδ- and Tak1-dependent signaling cascade that results in the activation of an NF-κB-dependent transcriptional response, with consequent production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Using an <i>in vivo</i> model of <i>N. gonorrhoeae</i> infection, we show that human CEACAM-expressing neutrophils have heightened migration toward the site of the infection where they may be further activated upon Opa-dependent binding. Together, this study establishes that the role of CEACAM3 is not restricted to the direct opsonin-independent killing by neutrophils, since it also drives the vigorous inflammatory response that typifies gonorrhea. By carrying the potential to mobilize increasing numbers of neutrophils, CEACAM3 thereby represents the tipping point between protective and pathogenic outcomes of <i>N. gonorrhoeae</i> infection.</p></div