A European questionnaire-based study on population awareness and risk perception of antimicrobial resistance

Versión post-printTo tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is of outmost importance for the general population to understand the severity and the relevance of different routes of transmission. Respondents of different age groups, educational and occupational backgrounds, area of living, diet and household composition participated in an online survey with questions concerning socio-demographics, personal use of antibiotics, awareness, general knowledge, sources of information, behavior and attitude toward antibiotics, and risk perception on antibiotics and AMR. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were carried out. A total of 1252 respondents, mainly from EU, participated in the survey. About 57.7% declared they consumed antibiotics in the last year and some misguided behaviors were identified, especially for those not having a food- or health-related background, who more frequently failed in giving the right answer to uncontroversial true/false questions (ANOVA, P < 0.05). The youngest respondents were less confident on the information received from traditional media (OR = 0.425), the national government (OR = 0.462), and consumer organizations (OR = 0.497), while they frequently obtained information from social networks and online media, which could therefore be exploited as a channel for educational campaigns targeting this population group. New measures, strategies and policy agenda at a European level aimed at improving awareness on AMR among targeted community groups must be taken into consideration.S

Biofilms Formed by Pathogens in Food and Food Processing Environments

This chapter presents the ability of some pathogenic (Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter jejuni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and toxigenic bacteria (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus) to form biofilms and contribute to the persistence of these microorganisms in the food industry. Particularities regarding attachment and composition of biofilms formed in food and food processing environments are presented and genes involved in biofilm production are mentioned. To give a perspective on how to fight against biofilms with new means, nonconventional methods based on bacteriocins, bacteriophages, disruptive enzymes, essential oils, nanoemulsions and nanoparticles, and use of alternative technologies (cold plasma, ultrasounds, light-assisted technologies, pulsed electric field, and high pressure processing) are shortly described

Selection of lactic acid bacteria as biopreservation agents and optimization of their mode of application for the control of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat cooked meat products

[EN] In order to meet consumers´demands for more natural foods and to find new methods to control foodborne pathogens in them, research is currently being focused on alternative preservation approaches, such as biopreservation with lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Here, a collection of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolates was characterized to identify potential biopreservative agents. Six isolates (one Lactococcus lactis, one Lacticaseibacillus paracasei and four Lactiplantibacillus plantarum) were selected based on their antimicrobial activity in in vitro assays. Whole genome sequencing showed that none of the six LAB isolates carried known virulence factors or acquired antimicrobial resistance genes, and that the L. lactis isolate was potentially a nisin Z producer. Growth of L. monocytogenes was successfully limited by L. lactis ULE383, L. paracasei ULE721 and L. plantarum ULE1599 throughout the shelf-life of cooked ham, meatloaf and roasted pork shoulder. These LAB isolates were also applied individually or as a cocktail at different inoculum concentrations (4, 6 and 8 log10 CFU/g) in challenge test studies involving cooked ham, showing a stronger anti-Listerial activity when a cocktail was used at 8 log10 CFU/g. Thus, a reduction of up to ~5.0 log10 CFU/g in L. monocytogenes growth potential was attained in cooked ham packaged under vacuum, modified atmosphere packaging or vacuum followed by high pressure processing (HPP). Only minor changes in color and texture were induced, although there was a significant acidification of the product when the LAB cultures were applied. Remarkably, this acidification was delayed when HPP was applied to the LAB inoculated batches. Metataxonomic analyses showed that the LAB cocktail was able to grow in the cooked ham and outcompete the indigenous microbiota, including spoilage microorganisms such as Brochothrix. Moreover, none of the batches were considered unacceptable in a sensory evaluation. Overall, this study shows the favourable antilisterial activity of the cocktail of LAB employed, with the combination of HPP and LAB achieving a complete inhibition of the pathogen with no detrimental effects in physico-chemical or sensorial evaluations, highlighting the usefulness of biopreservation approaches involving LAB for enhancing the safety of cooked meat products.S

Research and Science Today No. 1(5)/2013

Research and Science Today Journal is a publication founded in 2011 and it is dedicated to the students of all levels (license, master and doctoral) of faculties in the country and abroad. We want to offer the participants the opportunity to present their scientific works in the following areas: Social Sciences, Economic Sciences, Legal Sciences, Humanities, Education Sciences, Engineering, Medicine and Sport. This journal provides students the opportunity to create and/or to improve their abilities to write scientific papers. So each appearance (two appearances per year at which we can add supplements) contains a number of papers written by students, masters and doctoral from the faculties from the country or/and abroad. The journal promotes original studies contributing to the progress of knowledge and it is motivated by the need to address issues of theory and practice in the areas mentioned above

Research and Science Today No. 1(5)/2013

Research and Science Today Journal is a publication founded in 2011 and it is dedicated to the students of all levels (license, master and doctoral) of faculties in the country and abroad. We want to offer the participants the opportunity to present their scientific works in the following areas: Social Sciences, Economic Sciences, Legal Sciences, Humanities, Education Sciences, Engineering, Medicine and Sport. This journal provides students the opportunity to create and/or to improve their abilities to write scientific papers. So each appearance (two appearances per year at which we can add supplements) contains a number of papers written by students, masters and doctoral from the faculties from the country or/and abroad. The journal promotes original studies contributing to the progress of knowledge and it is motivated by the need to address issues of theory and practice in the areas mentioned above

Research and Science Today No. 1(5)/2013

Research and Science Today Journal is a publication founded in 2011 and it is dedicated to the students of all levels (license, master and doctoral) of faculties in the country and abroad. We want to offer the participants the opportunity to present their scientific works in the following areas: Social Sciences, Economic Sciences, Legal Sciences, Humanities, Education Sciences, Engineering, Medicine and Sport. This journal provides students the opportunity to create and/or to improve their abilities to write scientific papers. So each appearance (two appearances per year at which we can add supplements) contains a number of papers written by students, masters and doctoral from the faculties from the country or/and abroad. The journal promotes original studies contributing to the progress of knowledge and it is motivated by the need to address issues of theory and practice in the areas mentioned above

Vaccine breakthrough hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia in patients with auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs

Life-threatening `breakthrough' cases of critical COVID-19 are attributed to poor or waning antibody response to the SARS- CoV-2 vaccine in individuals already at risk. Pre-existing autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs underlie at least 15% of critical COVID-19 pneumonia cases in unvaccinated individuals; however, their contribution to hypoxemic breakthrough cases in vaccinated people remains unknown. Here, we studied a cohort of 48 individuals ( age 20-86 years) who received 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine and developed a breakthrough infection with hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia 2 weeks to 4 months later. Antibody levels to the vaccine, neutralization of the virus, and auto- Abs to type I IFNs were measured in the plasma. Forty-two individuals had no known deficiency of B cell immunity and a normal antibody response to the vaccine. Among them, ten (24%) had auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs (aged 43-86 years). Eight of these ten patients had auto-Abs neutralizing both IFN-a2 and IFN-., while two neutralized IFN-omega only. No patient neutralized IFN-ss. Seven neutralized 10 ng/mL of type I IFNs, and three 100 pg/mL only. Seven patients neutralized SARS-CoV-2 D614G and the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) efficiently, while one patient neutralized Delta slightly less efficiently. Two of the three patients neutralizing only 100 pg/mL of type I IFNs neutralized both D61G and Delta less efficiently. Despite two mRNA vaccine inoculations and the presence of circulating antibodies capable of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2, auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs may underlie a significant proportion of hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia cases, highlighting the importance of this particularly vulnerable population

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Abstracts from the 20th International Symposium on Signal Transduction at the Blood-Brain Barriers

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138963/1/12987_2017_Article_71.pd