TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Antimicrobial resistance of bacterial strains isolated from avian cellulitis

Avian cellulitis is an inflammatory process in the subcutaneous tissue, mainly located in the abdomen and thighs. This problem is commonly observed in poultry at slaughter and it is considered one of the major causes of condemnation of carcasses in Brazil. The aim of this study was to perform the microbial isolation of lesions of avian cellulitis from a processing plant located in the State of Goiás in order to analyze antimicrobial resistance by antibiogram test and to detect resistance genes by polymerase chain reaction. A total of 25 samples of avian cellulitis lesions were analyzed, from which 30 bacterial strains were isolated. There were eleven (44%) strains of Escherichia coli, nine (36%) strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis, seven (28%) strains of Proteus mirabilis and three (12%) strains of Manheimiahaemolytica. The antibiogram test showed that all strains were resistant to at least one antimicrobial. The gene of antimicrobial resistance tetB was detected in E. coli, S. epidermidis and P. mirabilis strains, and was the most frequently observed gene. The gene of antimicrobial resistance Sul1 was detected in all bacterial species, while tetA was found in E. coli and S. epidermidis strains, SHV in E. coli strains, S. epidermidis and P. mirabilis,and cat1 in one P. mirabilis strain. The results suggest a potential public health hazard due to the ability of these microorganisms to transmit antimicrobial resistancegenes to other microorganisms present in the intestinal tract of humans and animals, which may affect clinical-medical usage of these drugs

Substrate specificity characterization of recombinant metallo oligo-peptidases thimet oligopeptidase and neurolysin

We report a systematic and detailed analysis of recombinant neurolysin (EC 3.4.24.16) specificity in parallel with thimet oligopeptidase (TOP, EC 3.4.24.15) using Bk sequence and its C- and N-terminal extensions as in human kininogen as motif for synthesis of internally quenched fluorescent substrates, the influence of the substrate size was investigated, and the longest peptide susceptible to TOP and neurolysin contains 17 amino acids. the specificities of both oligopeptidases to substrate sites P(4) to P(3)' were also characterized in great detail using seven series of peptides based on Abz-GFSPFRQ-EDDnp taken as reference substrate. Most of the peptides were hydrolyzed at the bond corresponding to P(4)-F(5) in the reference substrate and some of them were hydrolyzed at this bond or at F(2)-S(3) bond. No restricted specificity was found for P(1)' as found in thermolysin as well for P(1) substrate position, however the modifications at this position (P(1)) showed to have large influence on the catalytic constant and the best substrates for TOP contained at P(1), Phe, Ala, or Arg and for neurolysin Asn or Arg. Some amino acid residues have large influence on the K(m) constants independently of its position. On the basis of these results, we are hypothesizing that some amino acids of the substrates can bind to different sub-sites of the enzyme fitting P-F or F-S bond, which requires rapid interchange for the different forms of interaction and convenient conformations of the substrate in order to expose and fit the cleavage bonds in correct position for an efficient hydrolysis. Finally, this plasticity of interaction with the substrates can be an essential property for a class of cytosolic oligopeptidases that are candidates to participate in the selection of the peptides to be presented by the MHC class I.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Biophys, BR-04044020 São Paulo, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Histol, BR-05508900 São Paulo, BrazilInst Butantan, Biochem & Biophys Lab, BR-05503900 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Biophys, BR-04044020 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc