Phylogeography of Lyme borreliosis-group spirochetes and methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>

SUMMARYMultilocus sequence typing (MLST) and multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) have revolutionized understanding the global epidemiology of many medically relevant bacteria utilizing a number, mostly seven, of housekeeping genes. A more recent introduction, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), constitutes an even more powerful tool for bacterial typing, population genetic studies and phylogeography. The introduction of massive parallel sequencing has made genome re-sequencing and SNP discovery more economical for investigations of microbial organisms. In this paper we review phylogeographic studies on Lyme borreliosis (LB)-group spirochetes and methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA). Members of the LB-group spirochetes are tick-transmitted zoonotic bacteria that have many hosts and differ in their degree of host specialism, constituting a highly complex system. MRSA is a directly transmitted pathogen that may be acquired by contact with infected people, animals or MRSA-contaminated objects. For the LB-group spirochetes, MLSA has proved a powerful tool for species assignment and phylogeographic investigations while forS. aureus, genome-wide SNP data have been used to study the very short-term evolution of two important MRSA lineages, ST239 and ST225. These data are detailed in this review.</jats:p

Development of a dairy fouling model to assess the efficacy of cleaning procedures using alkaline and enzymatic products

Dairy fouling is defined as the accumulation of thermally insulating materials or deposits from process fluids which are especially formed on heat transfer surfaces. The selection of suitable cleaning strategies to remove dairy fouling requires the understanding of its composition and the relationships with the surfaces where it is formed. For the industry, the development of novel strategies to test cleaning products, as well reducing water and energy consumption during the dairy processing operations is of enormous interest. The results showed the development of a laboratory-milk fouling model (MFM) with an average content of 52.8 mg/cm2 of fouling in the test coupons. Seven different cleaners were tested with a fouling removal effectiveness of between 55% and 97%. Additionally, for evaluating the cleaning process of the model, the turbidity of the cleaning solutions was assessed. We presented an enzymatic alternative to the use of traditional cleaning products, with a similar efficacy against the dairy fouling. 78% of fouling removal after the use of enzymatic solution, in comparison to the 72% of fouling removal after the use of alkaline cleaning products. A reduction in water (−33.3%) and temperature (−28.5%), as well as shorter cleaning times (−33%) than its chemical alternative, was observed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media: exact results

We investigate the propagation of one-dimensional bright and dark spatial solitons in a nonlocal Kerr-like media, in which the nonlocality is of general form. We find an exact analytical solution to the nonlinear propagation equation in the case of weak nonlocality. We study the properties of these solitons and show their stability.Comment: 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Temperature Dependence of Hall Response in Doped Antiferromagnets

Using finite-temperature Lanczos method the frequency-dependent Hall response is calculated numerically for the t-J model on the square lattice and on ladders. At low doping, both the high-frequency RH* and the d.c. Hall coefficient RH0 follow qualitatively similar behavior at higher temperatures: being hole-like for T > Ts~1.5J and weakly electron-like for T < Ts. Consistent with experiments on cuprates, RH0 changes, in contrast to RH*, again to the hole-like sign below the pseudogap temperature T*, revealing a strong temperature variation for T->0.Comment: LaTeX, 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics of US Adults Who Purchase Prescription Drugs from Other Countries

Importance: Little is known about the current use of imported drugs and the factors associated with individual purchase of medications outside the US. Objective: To evaluate the proportion of the US adult population that purchases medications in other countries and the patient factors associated with the behavior. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cross-sectional study used data from the 2015-2017 National Health Interview Survey. The study sample included 61238 individuals 18 years or older who reported use of prescribed medication by a physician or other practitioner. Data analysis was performed in November 2019. Main Outcomes and Measures: Self-reported experience of purchasing prescription drugs from countries outside the US in the past 12 months. Internet use behaviors for health care included searches for health information and filling of a prescription online. Medication-taking behaviors included skipping or delaying filling a prescription and using alternative therapies to save money. Survey design-adjusted analysis was used to estimate and compare characteristics between those who purchased medications outside the US and those did not. Multivariable logistic regression was fitted to examine the association of medication purchases with internet use and medication-taking behavior factors. Results: Among 61238 US adults taking prescription medications (mean [SD] age, 50.5 [18.5] years; 56.5% female; 70.8% white), the estimated prevalence of purchasing of medication outside the US was 1.5% (95% CI, 1.4%-1.7%; 2.3 million US individuals). Those who purchased medications outside the US were more likely to be older (age >64 years; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.68; 95% CI, 1.24-2.29), to be from Hispanic (aOR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.23-2.35) or immigrant populations (aOR, 3.20; 95% CI, 2.44-4.20), and to have higher educational attainment (bachelor's degree; aOR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.27-2.54), lower family income (low income; aOR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.06-1.87), and lack of insurance (aOR, 3.14; 95% CI, 2.33-4.21). Data analyses indicated that online health information-seeking behavior (aOR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.33-1.98) or use of an online pharmacy (aOR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.83-2.90) was associated with a greater likelihood of medication purchases outside the US. Individuals who skipped medications (aOR, 3.86; 95% CI, 3.05-4.88) or delayed filling a prescription (aOR, 4.04, 95% CI, 3.23-5.06) also had higher odds of purchasing medication outside the US. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings suggest that patients are not using prescription purchases outside the US to meet their medication needs. However, monitoring to promote safe administration of medications imported into the US should be continued

Multifractality and critical fluctuations at the Anderson transition

Critical fluctuations of wave functions and energy levels at the Anderson transition are studied for the family of the critical power-law random banded matrix ensembles. It is shown that the distribution functions of the inverse participation ratios (IPR) $P_q$ are scale-invariant at the critical point, with a power-law asymptotic tail. The IPR distribution, the multifractal spectrum and the level statistics are calculated analytically in the limits of weak and strong couplings, as well as numerically in the full range of couplings.Comment: 14 pages, 13 eps figure

Search for composite and exotic fermions at LEP 2

A search for unstable heavy fermions with the DELPHI detector at LEP is reported. Sequential and non-canonical leptons, as well as excited leptons and quarks, are considered. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 48 pb^{-1} at an e^+e^- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV and about 20 pb^{-1} equally shared between the centre-of-mass energies of 172 GeV and 161 GeV. The search for pair-produced new leptons establishes 95% confidence level mass limits in the region between 70 GeV/c^2 and 90 GeV/c^2, depending on the channel. The search for singly produced excited leptons and quarks establishes upper limits on the ratio of the coupling of the excited fermio

Search for charginos in e+e- interactions at sqrt(s) = 189 GeV

An update of the searches for charginos and gravitinos is presented, based on a data sample corresponding to the 158 pb^{-1} recorded by the DELPHI detector in 1998, at a centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV. No evidence for a signal was found. The lower mass limits are 4-5 GeV/c^2 higher than those obtained at a centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV. The (\mu,M_2) MSSM domain excluded by combining the chargino searches with neutralino searches at the Z resonance implies a limit on the mass of the lightest neutralino which, for a heavy sneutrino, is constrained to be above 31.0 GeV/c^2 for tan(beta) \geq 1.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure

A Mapping Literature Review of Medical Cannabis Clinical Outcomes and Quality of Evidence in Approved Conditions in the USA from 2016 to 2019

In 2017, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report comprehensively evaluated the body of evidence regarding cannabis health effects through the year 2016. The objectives of this study are to identify and map the most recently (2016-2019) published literature across approved conditions for medical cannabis and to evaluate the quality of identified recent systematic reviews, published following the NASEM report. Following the literature search from 5 databases and consultation with experts, 11 conditions were identified for evidence compilation and evaluation: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autism, cancer, chronic noncancer pain, Crohn's disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, and posttraumatic stress disorder. A total of 198 studies were included after screening for condition-specific relevance and after imposing the following exclusion criteria: preclinical focus, non-English language, abstracts only, editorials/commentary, case studies/series, and non-U.S. study setting. Data extracted from studies included: study design type, outcome definition, intervention definition, sample size, study setting, and reported effect size. Few completed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified. Studies classified as systematic reviews were graded using the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews-2 tool to evaluate the quality of evidence. Few high-quality systematic reviews were available for most conditions, with the exceptions of MS (9 of 9 graded moderate/high quality; evidence for 2/9 indicating cannabis improved outcomes; evidence for 7/9 indicating cannabis inconclusive), epilepsy (3 of 4 graded moderate/high quality; 3 indicating cannabis improved outcomes; 1 indicating cannabis inconclusive), and chronic noncancer pain (12 of 13 graded moderate/high quality; evidence for 7/13 indicating cannabis improved outcomes; evidence from 6/7 indicating cannabis inconclusive). Among RCTs, we identified few studies of substantial rigor and quality to contribute to the evidence base. However, there are some conditions for which significant evidence suggests that select dosage forms and routes of administration likely have favorable risk-benefit ratios (i.e., epilepsy and chronic noncancer pain). The body of evidence for medical cannabis requires more rigorous evaluation before consideration as a treatment option for many conditions, and evidence necessary to inform policy and treatment guidelines is currently insufficient for many conditions