Outcomes of the multicenter monitoring of the causative agent of invasive listeriosis in the metropolis

Introduction. Invasive listeriosis is a rare disease posing a threat to high-risk groups and often leading to a fatal outcome. Its causative agent is Listeria monocytogenes, a ubiquitous saprophyte that has turned into an important foodborne pathogen with the growing industry of semi-cooked and ready-to-eat products. The aim of the study is the characterization of L. monocytogenes isolates in the Moscow region and identification of possible causes of susceptibility to infection Materials and methods. The multicenter monitoring of L. monocytogenes was conducted in the Moscow metropolitan area, using bacteriological and genomic methods for description of the pathogen, medical history collection and detailed analysis of patient case summaries. Results. In the cohorts of patients with perinatal listeriosis (PL) and meningitis-septicemia (MS), invasive listeriosis had a year-round occurrence with slight upswings in MarchApril and JulyNovember. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in the MS group, the minimum age of patients decreased to 31 years and the proportion of deaths increased 1.57-fold compared to 20182019. During the pandemic, an increase in the diversity of L. monocytogenes genotypes was observed, along with changes in the spectrum of pathogen genotypes throughout the pandemic stages. During the monitoring, a total of 73 L. monocytogenes clinical isolates belonging to 24 genotypes were described. Seven genotypes belonged to the first phylogenetic lineage (PLI); 14 genotypes belonged to PLII. The PL cohort had the highest proportion of PLI genotypes (52%). In the MS cohort, the group of men had the widest diversity of genotypes, 6 of which were identical to genotypes of food isolates. In the analysed set of isolates, 12 new profiles of internalin genes were identified and described. The whole genome sequencing detected the presence of plasmids in 9 of 58 genomes of clinical isolates. The comparison of core genomes revealed an epidemic relationship between isolates of the same genotype for ST4, ST21, and ST425. Conclusion. The performed study presents a detailed description of the diversity and virulence of L. monocytogenes circulating in the Moscow metropolitan area, thus providing information for timely diagnosis and treatment of invasive listeriosis

The central aortic blood pressure and arterial stiffness during the daily monitoring procedure in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

Aim: to evaluate the data of the central aortic pressure and arterial stiffness during the daily monitoring procedure in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Methods: 79 postmenopausal women (age from 57 to 78) were examined. All patients were divided into two groups: the first group consisted of 36 women with osteoporosis, the second group consisted of 43 women control group. A daily monitoring of central aortic pressure and arterial stiffness were performed all women by the apparatus BPLab v.3.2. Results: increase of the mean daily of systolic, diastolic and mean aortic pressure was found out in women with osteoporosis. The main data of arterial stiffness (PWV, ASI, AASI, PPA) were higher in this group of women. The direct correlation between the data of central aortic blood pressure, arterial stiffness and presence of osteoporotic fractures and their number, as well as indicators of absolute ten-year risk of osteoporotic fractures and hip fracture was revealed. Pathological profiles of systolic pressure in aortae were more frequent in patients with osteoporosis. The type of hyperdispers was predominant. Conclusions: the results obtained may indicate a possible relationship between cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis

Crystal Structure and Properties of Gd_1-<i>x</i>Sr<i>_x</i>Co_1-<i>y</i>Fe<i>_y</i>O_3-δ Oxides as Promising Materials for Catalytic and SOFC Application

A series of samples with the overall composition Gd1-xSrxCo1-yFeyO3-δ (x = 0.8; 0.9 and 0.1 ≤ y ≤ 0.9), which are promising materials for catalytic and SOFC application, was prepared by a glycerol nitrate technique. X-ray diffraction analysis allowed to describe Gd0.2Sr0.8Co1-yFeyO3-δ with 0.1 ≤ y ≤ 0.5 in a tetragonal 2ap × 2ap × 4ap superstructure (SG I4/mmm), while oxides with 0.6 ≤ y ≤ 0.9 exhibit cubic disordered perovskite structure (SG Pm-3m). All Gd0.1Sr0.9Fe1-yCoyO3-δ oxides within the composition range 0.1 ≤ y ≤ 0.9 possess the cubic perovskite structure (SG Pm-3m). The structural parameters were refined using the Rietveld full-profile method. The changes of oxygen content in Gd1-xSrxCo1-yFeyO3-δ versus temperature were determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The introduction of iron into the cobalt sublattice leads to a gradual increase in the unit cell parameters and unit cell volume, accompanied with increasing oxygen content. The temperature dependency of conductivity for Gd0.2Sr0.8Co0.3Fe0.7O3-δ exhibits a maximum (284 S/cm) at ≈600 K in air. The positive value of the Seebeck coefficient indicates predominant p-type conductivity in the Gd0.2Sr0.8Co0.3Fe0.7O3-δ complex oxide

COL4A5 G624D: abundance of the Alport syndrome mutation in Russia along with Greek, Hungarian and Slovenian populations suggests it is a frequent mutation in Eastern Europe with mild phenotype

peer reviewe

Novel genotype-phenotype correlations in X-linked Alport syndrome: Serum albumin level, age at onset of hematuria and hypertension

peer reviewe

Способ прогнозирования наличия мутации гена col4a5 у пациентов с предполагаемым диагнозом "синдром альпорта"

publication date: 2018; filing date: 2017-11-2

Be aware of the allele-specific bias and compositional effects in multi-template PCR

High-throughput sequencing of amplicon libraries is the most widespread and one of the most effective ways to study the taxonomic structure of microbial communities, even despite growing accessibility of whole metagenome sequencing. Due to the targeted amplification, the method provides unparalleled resolution of communities, but at the same time perturbs initial community structure thereby reducing data robustness and compromising downstream analyses. Experimental research of the perturbations is largely limited to comparative studies on different PCR protocols without considering other sources of experimental variation related to characteristics of the initial microbial composition itself. Here we analyse these sources and demonstrate how dramatically they effect the relative abundances of taxa during the PCR cycles. We developed the mathematical model of the PCR amplification assuming the heterogeneity of amplification efficiencies and considering the compositional nature of data. We designed the experiment—five consecutive amplicon cycles (22–26) with 12 replicates for one real human stool microbial sample—and estimated the dynamics of the microbial community in line with the model. We found the high heterogeneity in amplicon efficiencies of taxa that leads to the non-linear and substantial (up to fivefold) changes in relative abundances during PCR. The analysis of possible sources of heterogeneity revealed the significant association between amplicon efficiencies and the energy of secondary structures of the DNA templates. The result of our work highlights non-trivial changes in the dynamics of real-life microbial communities due to their compositional nature. Obtained effects are specific not only for amplicon libraries, but also for any studies of metagenome dynamics