Risk factors for Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli and Campylobacter occurrence in primary production of leafy greens and strawberries

The microbiological sanitary quality and safety of leafy greens and strawberries were assessed in the primary production in Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Norway and Spain by enumeration of Escherichia coli and detection of Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and Campylobacter. Water samples were more prone to containing pathogens (54 positives out of 950 analyses) than soil (16/1186) and produce on the field (18/977 for leafy greens and 5/402 for strawberries). The prevalence of pathogens also varied markedly according to the sampling region. Flooding of fields increased the risk considerably, with odds ratio (OR) 10.9 for Salmonella and 7.0 for STEC. A significant association between elevated numbers of generic E. coli and detection of pathogens (OR of 2.3 for STEC and 2.7 for Salmonella) was established. Generic E. coli was found to be a suitable index organism for Salmonella and STEC, but to a lesser extent for Campylobacter. Guidelines on frequency of sampling and threshold values for E. coli in irrigation water may differ from region to region

La implicación de las frutas y hortalizas en las toxiinfecciones alimentarias y la relevancia del estado fisiológico de las bacterias

Fruits and vegetables have always been in the news, mainly because of their beneficial properties for human health. However, they increasingly occupy headlines due to their involvement in foodborne outbreaks. This is the reason why, since 2008, many international organizations consider fruit and vegetables risky food. One major microbiological concern regarding the safety of leafy greens is that pathogenic microorganisms are able to adhere to and survive on plant tissue during cultivation and processing, coexist with epiphytic bacteria and persist for long periods of time. The prevalence of pathogenic microorganisms in fruits and vegetables is low (Las frutas y hortalizas han sido siempre noticia debido principalmente a sus propiedades beneficiosas para la salud. Sin embargo, cada vez más ocupan titulares debido a su implicación en toxiinfecciones alimentarias. Por este motivo, desde 2008, las frutas y hortalizas frescas son consideradas por muchos organismos internacionales como un alimento de riesgo. Uno de los principales problemas microbiológicos de las hortalizas de hojas son las bacte­rias entéricas que pueden adherirse rápidamente al tejido durante el cultivo, coexistir con las bacterias epífitas y persistir por largos periodos de tiempo. La prevalencia de microorganismos patógenos en las frutas y hortalizas es baja ( < 1%) y la cuantificación de las bac­terias patógenas o de microorganismos indicadores generalmente muestra niveles muy bajos, lo que no justificaría el elevado número de alertas microbiológicas asociadas a este tipo de productos. Sin embargo, existen dudas sobre si los recuentos obtenidos utilizan­do las técnicas convencionales son capaces de reflejar realmente todos los microorganismos presentes en el producto vegetal, así como en el agua de riego y en el suelo. Varios estudios han demos­trado que cuando las bacterias son sometidas a distintos factores de estrés entran en un estado temporal de baja actividad metabóli­ca en el cual las células pueden persistir durante largos periodos de tiempo sin división celular, llamado estado de latencia o viable pero no cultivable (VBNC). La relevancia que el estado fisiológico de las bacterias puede tener en el desarrollo de toxiinfecciones alimenta­rias causadas por las frutas y hortalizas es un tema de gran interés que está atrayendo más y más la atención de los investigadores

The cDNAs coding for the α- and β-subunits of Xenopus laevis casein kinase II

AbstractUsing a λgt10 cDNA library obtained from Xenopus laevis oocytes and probes derived from the known sequences of the human and Drosophila genes, a cDNA coding for the α-subunit of the X. laevis casein kinase II was isolated. The coding sequence of this clone determines a polypeptide of 350 amino acids. The X. laevis sequence is 98% identical to the human and rat proteins in the first 323 amino acids. Using the polymerase chain reaction to generate a 370-nucleotide-long probe, it was possible to clone and sequence a cDNA of 900 nucleotides that coded for the X. laevis β-subunit of casein kinase II. The derived protein sequence is 215 amino acids long and again shows an extraordinary degree of conservation with other species

The analysis of urban fluvial landscapes in the centre of Spain, their characterization, values and interventions

River areas are undoubtedly among the most valuable territorial areas in Europe, not only in terms of their eco-landscape and use but also, culturally. However, there is currently a sharp reduction in the extension and increase of deterioration of riverbanks around the world. A substantial part of losses and deterioration are associated with the artificialization of the territories, derived mainly from a less than respectful urbanization around these landscapes. Urban and periurban riverbanks are landscapes in expansion due to the continuous growth of built-up spaces. Therefore, they should be areas of preferential consideration, especially in territories with a marked tendency to dryness, like the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. This article aims to contribute to our understanding of these spaces through the study of four distinct cases in the centre of the peninsula, in particular: the river Manzanares running through the city of Madrid, the river Tagus in Toledo and running through Talavera de la Reina, and the river Henares in Guadalajara. Three of the four urban water courses analyzed are zones of special interest for waterfowl: they sustain a winter population that varies between 745 and 1529 birds and they provide a home to some globally threatened species. The density of the riparian birds is also very high during winter, these values oscillating between a mean of 141.16 and 240.12 birds/10 ha. It should be noted that the diversity of this group of birds in the four regions studies is also high (H &gt; 2.4 nats). The article also examines the interventions and the urban planning criteria applied to these urban and peri-urban river spaces, inferring the need to reassess urban planning in river areas to ensure it is compatible with their operation, values and possible uses

Chemical Abundances in Field Red Giants from High-Resolution H-Band Spectra using the APOGEE Spectral Linelist

High-resolution H-band spectra of five bright field K, M, and MS giants, obtained from the archives of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS), are analyzed to determine chemical abundances of 16 elements. The abundances were derived via spectrum synthesis using the detailed linelist prepared for the SDSS III Apache Point Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), which is a high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopic survey to derive detailed chemical abundance distributions and precise radial velocities for 100,000 red giants sampling all Galactic stellar populations. Measured chemical abundances include the cosmochemically important isotopes 12C, 13C, 14N, and 16O, along with Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu. A comparison of the abundances derived here with published values for these stars reveals consistent results to ~0.1 dex. The APOGEE spectral region and linelist is, thus, well-suited for probing both Galactic chemical evolution, as well as internal nucleosynthesis and mixing in populations of red giants using high-resolution spectroscopy.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 42 pages, 12 figure

Effectiveness of Marine Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centers in Chile in relation to strandings of sea turtles, penguins, sea lions, and sea otters: Efectividad de los centros de rescate y rehabilitación de fauna marina en Chile ante varamientos de tortugas, pingüinos, lobos marinos y nutrias

Marine Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centers (MWRRCs) are crucial for the rehabilitation of endangered marine species, such as penguins, sea turtles, sea lions, and/or sea otters. In Chile, rescue of marine fauna is coordinated by the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA). This organization is responsible for assisting stranded animals and transporting them to 6 of the 13 MWRRCs that exist throughout the 6,435 km coastline of the country. Stranding events were analyzed for two species of pinnipeds (Otaria flavescens and Arctocephalus australis), two species of penguins (Spheniscus humboldti and Spheniscus magellanicus), two species of chelonians (Chelonia mydas and Lepidochelys olivacea), and one species of sea otter (Lontra felina) found stranded at the coast of Chile during 2009-2019 period. Success in post-rehabilitation release of individuals was also examined. A total of 2,818 stranding events were recorded with a total of 3,198 stranded animals, corresponding to O. flavescens (52.9%), S. humboldti (20.4%), S. magellanicus (17.9%) and L. olivacea (4.3%). Of the 3,198 stranded animals, 721 specimens were referred to MWRRC, and only 136 were released post-rehabilitation. This shows an18.8% success rate in the release of marine fauna species post-rehabilitated in rescue centers after their stranding. It is necessary to improve coordination between SERNAPESCA and MWRRCs in Chile to improve the release rate and to increase the number of MWRRCs to recover endangered marine species that strand along the country’s coast

Comparing analytical methods to detect SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater

Wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a reliable strategy to assess the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Recent publications suggest that SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater is technically feasible; however, many different protocols are available and most of the methods applied have not been properly validated. To this end, different procedures to concentrate and extract inactivated SARS-CoV-2 and surrogates were initially evaluated. Urban wastewater seeded with gamma-irradiated SARS-CoV-2, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), and mengovirus (MgV) was used to test the concentration efficiency of an aluminum-based adsorption-precipitation method and a polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation protocol. Moreover, two different RNA extraction methods were compared in this study: a commercial manual spin column centrifugation kit and an automated protocol based on magnetic silica beads. Overall, the evaluated concentration methods did not impact the recovery of gamma-irradiated SARS-CoV-2 nor MgV, while extraction methods showed significant differences for PEDV. Mean recovery rates of 42.9 ± 9.5%, 27.5 ± 14.3% and 9.0 ± 2.2% were obtained for gamma-irradiated SARS-CoV-2, PEDV and MgV, respectively. Limits of detection (LoD95%) for five genomic SARS-CoV-2 targets (N1, N2, gene E, IP2 and IP4) ranged from 1.56 log genome equivalents (ge)/mL (N1) to 2.22 log ge/mL (IP4) when automated system was used; while values ranging between 2.08 (N1) and 2.34 (E) log ge/mL were observed when using column-based extraction method. Different targets were also evaluated in naturally contaminated wastewater samples with 91.2%, 85.3%, 70.6%, 79.4% and 73.5% positivity, for N1, N2, E, IP2 and IP4, respectively. Our benchmarked comparison study suggests that the aluminum precipitation method coupled with the automated nucleic extraction represents a method of acceptable sensitivity to provide readily results of interest for SARS-CoV-2 WBE surveillance.The study was funded by grants from CSIC (202070E101), Generalitat Valenciana (Covid_19-SCI), MICINN co-founded by AEI/FEDER, UE (AGL2017-82909), and MICINN/AEI (PID2019-105509RJ-I00). EC-F is recipient of a predoctoral contract from the MICINN, Call 2018. WR is holder of the APOSTD/2018/150 postdoctoral contract from Generalitat Valenciana.Peer reviewe

Predicting the Risk of Mortality in Children using a Fuzzy-Probabilistic Hybrid Model

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Corsino Rey et al.Introduction. The mortality risk in children admitted to Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) is usually estimated by means of validated scales, which only include objective data among their items. Human perceptions may also add relevant information to prognosticate the risk of death, and the tool to use this subjective data is fuzzy logic. The objective of our study was to develop a mathematical model to predict mortality risk based on the subjective perception of PICU staff and to evaluate its accuracy compared to validated scales. Methods. A prospective observational study in two PICUs (one in Spain and another in Latvia) was performed. Children were consecutively included regardless of the cause of admission along a two-year period. A fuzzy set program was developed for the PICU staff to record the subjective assessment of the patients' mortality risk expressed through a short range and a long range, both between 0% and 100%. Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 (PIM2) and Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System 28 (TISS28) were also prospectively calculated for each patient. Subjective and objective predictions were compared using the logistic regression analysis. To assess the prognostication ability of the models a stratified B-random K-fold cross-validation was performed. Results. Five hundred ninety-nine patients were included, 308 in Spain (293 survivors, 15 nonsurvivors) and 291 in Latvia (282 survivors, 9 nonsurvivors). The best logistic classification model for subjective information was the one based on MID (midpoint of the short range), whereas objective information was the one based on PIM2. Mortality estimation performance was 86.3% for PIM2, 92.6% for MID, and the combination of MID and PIM2 reached 96.4%. Conclusions. Subjective assessment was as useful as validated scales to estimate the risk of mortality. A hybrid model including fuzzy information and probabilistic scales (PIM2) seems to increase the accuracy of prognosticating mortality in PICU.publishersversionPeer reviewe