Escherichia coli ST457: an emerging extended-spectrum β-lactam resistant lineage with reservoirs in wildlife and food-producing animals.

Silver gulls carry phylogenetically diverse Escherichia coli including globally dominant ExPEC sequence types and pandemic ExPEC-ST131 clades, however our large-scale study (504 samples) on silver gulls nesting off the coast of New South Wales identified E. coli ST457 as the most prevalent. A phylogenetic analysis of whole-genome sequences (WGS) of 138 ST457 comprising of 42 from gulls, two from humans (Australia) and 14 from poultry farmed in Paraguay were compared with 80 WGS deposited in public databases from diverse sources and countries. E. coli ST457 strains are phylogenetic group F, carry fimH145 and partition into five main clades in accordance to predominant flagella H-antigen carriage. Although we identified considerable phylogenetic diversity among the 138 ST457 strains, closely related subclades (< 100 SNPs) suggested zoonotic or zooanthroponosis transmission between humans, wild birds and food-producing animals. Australian human clinical and gull strains in two of the clades were closely related (≤ 80 SNPs). Regarding plasmid content, country or country-source specific connections were observed including I1/ST23, I1/ST314 and I1/ST315 disseminating bla CMY-2 in Australia, I1/ST113 carrying bla CTX-M-8 and mcr-5 in Paraguayan poultry and F2:A-:B1 plasmids of Dutch origin across multiple ST457 clades. We identified a high prevalence of nearly identical I1/ST23 plasmids carrying bla CMY-2 among Australian gull and clinical human strains. In summary, ST457 is a broad host range, geographically-diverse E. coli lineage that can cause human extraintestinal disease including urinary tract infection and displays a remarkable ability to capture mobile elements that carry and transmit genes encoding resistance to critically important antibiotics

Horsing around: ST1250 of equine origin harbouring epidemic IncHI1/ST9 plasmid with and an operon for short-chain fructooligosaccharides metabolism.

The relatedness of the equine-associated Escherichia coli ST1250 and its single- and double-locus variants (ST1250-SLV/DLV), obtained from horses in Europe, was studied by comparative genome analysis. A total of 54 isolates of E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV from healthy and hospitalized horses across Europe [Czech Republic (n=23), the Netherlands (n=18), Germany (n=9), Denmark (n=3) and France (n=1)] from 2008-2017 were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. An additional 25 draft genome assemblies of E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV were obtained from the public databases. The isolates were compared for genomic features, virulence genes, clade structure and plasmid content. The complete nucleotide sequences of eight IncHI1/ST9 and one IncHI1/ST2 plasmids were obtained using long-read sequencing by PacBio or MinION. In the collection of 79 isolates, only 10 were phylogenetically close (98% similarity) regardless of country of origin and varied only in the structure and integration site of MDR region. E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV are phylogenetically-diverse strains associated with horses. A strong linkage of E. coli ST1250 with epidemic multi-drug resistance plasmid lineage IncHI1/ST9 carrying blaCTX-M-1 and the fos operon was identified

Horsing around: Escherichia coli ST1250 of equine origin harboring epidemic IncHI1/ST9 plasmid with bla CTX-M-1and an operon for short-chain fructooligosaccharide metabolism

The relatedness of the equine-associated Escherichia coli strain ST1250 and its single- and double-locus variants (ST1250-SLV/DLV), obtained from horses in Europe, was studied by comparative genome analysis. A total of 54 isolates of E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV from healthy and hospitalized horses across Europe (Czech Republic [n = 23], The Netherlands [n = 18], Germany [n = 9], Denmark [n = 3], and France [n = 1]) from 2008 to 2017 were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. An additional 25 draft genome assemblies of E. coli ST1250 and ST1250- SLV/DLV were obtained from the public databases. The isolates were compared for genomic features, virulence genes, clade structure, and plasmid content. The complete nucleotide sequences of eight IncHI1/ST9 plasmids and one IncHI1/ST2 plasmid were obtained using long-read sequencing by PacBio or MinION. In the collection of 79 isolates, only 10 were phylogenetically close (,8 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNP]). The majority of isolates belonged to phylogroup B1 (73/79 [92.4%]) and carried blaCTX-M-1(58/79 [73.4%]). The plasmid content of the isolates was dominated by IncHI1 of ST9 (56/62 [90.3%]) and ST2 (6/62 [9.7%]), while 84.5% (49/58) of the blaCTX-M-1genes were associated with the presence of the IncHI1 replicon of ST9 and 6.9% (4/58) with the IncHI1 replicon of ST2 within the corresponding isolates. The operon for the utilization of short-chain fructooligosaccharides (the fos operon) was present in 55 of 79 (69.6%) isolates, and all of these carried IncHI1/ST9 plasmids. The eight complete IncHI1/ST9 plasmid sequences showed the presence of blaCTX-M-1and the fos operon within the same molecule. Sequences of IncHI1/ST9 plasmids were highly conserved (.98% similarity) regardless of country of origin and differed only in the structure and integration site of the multidrug resistance (MDR) region. E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV are phylogenetically diverse strains associated with horses. A strong linkage of E. coli ST1250 with the epidemic multidrug resistance plasmid lineage IncHI1/ST9 carrying blaCTX-M-1and the fos operon was identified

What Drives Gender Differences in Unemployment?

Post-communist labour markets provide a remarkable laboratory for analysing gender differences in labour dynamics and unemployment in particular, since unemployment rates rose from zero to double digit levels in a very short time. While there is much evidence explaining the wage gap between men and women, we provide the first systematic analysis of the gender unemployment gap. Using primary data from the Czech Republic and secondary data from a few other transition economies, we apply a method that allows us to pinpoint which transition probabilities between labour market states are driving the difference. The remarkable finding is that the lion's share of the gender gap in the unemployment rates in the Czech Republic, East Germany, Poland and Russia during early transition is explained by one and the same flow: women's lower probability of finding a job from unemployment. This result holds for the Czech Republic even after controlling for demographic, regional and cyclical factors that may affect gender differences in unemployment. Comparative Economic Studies (2007) 49, 128–155. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100192

Horsing around: ST1250 of equine origin harbouring epidemic IncHI1/ST9 plasmid with and an operon for short-chain fructooligosaccharides metabolism.

The relatedness of the equine-associated Escherichia coli ST1250 and its single- and double-locus variants (ST1250-SLV/DLV), obtained from horses in Europe, was studied by comparative genome analysis. A total of 54 isolates of E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV from healthy and hospitalized horses across Europe [Czech Republic (n=23), the Netherlands (n=18), Germany (n=9), Denmark (n=3) and France (n=1)] from 2008-2017 were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. An additional 25 draft genome assemblies of E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV were obtained from the public databases. The isolates were compared for genomic features, virulence genes, clade structure and plasmid content. The complete nucleotide sequences of eight IncHI1/ST9 and one IncHI1/ST2 plasmids were obtained using long-read sequencing by PacBio or MinION. In the collection of 79 isolates, only 10 were phylogenetically close (98% similarity) regardless of country of origin and varied only in the structure and integration site of MDR region. E. coli ST1250 and ST1250-SLV/DLV are phylogenetically-diverse strains associated with horses. A strong linkage of E. coli ST1250 with epidemic multi-drug resistance plasmid lineage IncHI1/ST9 carrying blaCTX-M-1 and the fos operon was identified