Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens: Impact on Human Health and Economy

The drug abuse known to occur during growth of animals intended for food production, because of their use as either a prophylactic or therapeutic treatment, promotes the emergence of bacterial drug resistance. It has been reported that at least 25% of the foodborne isolates show drug resistance to one or more classes of antimicrobials (FAO 2018). There are diverse mechanisms that promote drug resistance. It is known that the use of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics in animals intended for food production promotes mutations of some chromosomal genes such as gyrA-parC and mphA, which are responsible for quinolone and azithromycin resistance, respectively. Also, the horizontal transfer of resistance genes as groups (“cassettes”) or plasmids makes the spread of resistance to different bacterial genera possible, among which there could be pathogens. The World Health Organization considers the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria as a health problem, since the illnesses caused by them complicate the treatment and increase the morbidity and mortality rates. The complication in the illness treatment caused by a multidrug-resistant pathogen causes economic losses to patients for the payment of long stays in hospitals and also causes economic losses to companies due to the absenteeism of their workers

Geodiversidad, Geopatrimonio y Geoturismo en los espacios naturales protegidos del Geoparque Volcánico del Hierro (Canarias; España)

La isla de El Hierro es las más occidental y geológicamente más joven de Canarias (España) y forma parte de la red mundial y europea de geoparques desde el año 2014. El Hierro cuenta con siete ENP que suman el 58% de su superficie. El objetivo de esta comunicación es valorar la geodiversidad y el geopatrimonio de los ENP de El Hierro y sus repercusiones geoturísticas en espacios volcánicos y observar si están acorde con los principios geoturísticos de los geoparques. Los ENP de la isla protegen los principales paisajes geomorfológicos herreños (valles de deslizamientos, rifts volcánicos, campos de volcanes, malpaíses-lajiales, etc.), pero todos tiene valores de geodiversidad y geopatrimonio diferentes e implicaciones geoturísticas distintas. Aun así, las iniciativas científicas y administrativas parecen que van acordes con la filosofía de los geoparques, fomentando un proyecto de desarrollo socioeconómico local en base al geoturismo.El Hierro (island) is the westernmost and geologically youngest of the Canary Islands (Spain) and it is included on the global and European network of geoparks since 2014. El Hierro has seven Natural Protected Areas that represent 58% of its territory. The aim of this paper is to assess the geodiversity and the geoheritage of the protected areas of El Hierro and its geotouristic repercussions in volcanic areas and to observe if they are in agreement with the geoturistic principles of geoparks. This Natural Protected Areas protect the main geomorphological landscapes at El Hierro (landslide valleys, volcanic rifts, volcano fields, malpaíses-lajiales, etc.), but all have different geodiversity and geoheritage values and different geoturistic implications. Even so, the scientific and administrative initiatives seem to be in line with the philosophy of the geoparks, promoting a project of local socioeconomic development based on geotourism

Headache, Delirium or Encephalitis?:A Case of Residual Mutism Secondary to Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis

Encephalitis is a heterogeneous syndrome that is diagnosed through clinical assessment and the assistance of laboratory, neuroimaging and electroencephalographic workup. Over the past 10 years, autoimmune encephalitis has been more frequently recognized; however, most reports come from highly specialized hospital settings. Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NDMAR) encephalitis has been associated with paraneoplastic encephalitis syndromes and was first recognized in 2005. We present the case of a 34-year-old male patient who debuted clinically with a headache associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms (i.e., visual and auditory hallucinations, anxiety, aggressiveness) and memory deficits, progressing to autonomic dysfunction (i.e., tachycardia and hypertension), seizures, and stupor with catatonic features. Initially, infectious, metabolic, and toxicological etiologies were excluded; followed by the assessment of immunological and paraneoplastic etiologies, yielding positive IgG levels for anti-NMDAR antibodies. The patient was treated successfully with systemic steroid therapy and therapeutic plasmapheresis, while mutism was the only sequela. Although large case series reporting on paraneoplastic and autoimmune anti-NMDAR encephalitis have been reported in the literature in recent years, this case is of particular importance due to the stepwise differential diagnosis and treatment management procedure that was used in a regional but not highly specialized hospital setting

At the beginnings of the funerary Megalithism in Iberia at Campo de Hockey necropolis

The excavations undertaken at the Campo de Hockey site in 2008 led to the identification of a major Neolithic necropolis in the former Island of San Fernando (Bay of Cádiz). This work presents the results of the latest studies, which indicate that the site stands as one of the oldest megalithic necropolises in the Iberian Peninsula. The main aim of this work is to present with precision the chronology of this necropolis through a Bayesian statistical model that confirms that the necropolis was in use from c. 4300 to 3800 cal BC. The presence of prestige grave goods in the earliest and most monumental graves suggest that the Megalithism phenomenon emerged in relation to maritime routes linked to the distribution of exotic products. We also aim to examine funerary practices in these early megalithic communities, and especially their way of life and the social reproduction system. As such, in addition to the chronological information and the Bayesian statistics, we provide the results of a comprehensive interdisciplinary study, including anthropological, archaeometric and genetic data.Archaeological background: the Campo de Hockey settlement Methods - Tomb typology - Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian analysis. - Bioarchaeology. - DNA - Grave goods Results - Tomb typology - Radiocarbon dating: Bayesian analysis - Bioarchaeology. - DNA - Grave goods. Discussion and conclusions

VAMOS: a Pathfinder for the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

VAMOS was a prototype detector built in 2011 at an altitude of 4100m a.s.l. in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The aim of VAMOS was to finalize the design, construction techniques and data acquisition system of the HAWC observatory. HAWC is an air-shower array currently under construction at the same site of VAMOS with the purpose to study the TeV sky. The VAMOS setup included six water Cherenkov detectors and two different data acquisition systems. It was in operation between October 2011 and May 2012 with an average live time of 30%. Besides the scientific verification purposes, the eight months of data were used to obtain the results presented in this paper: the detector response to the Forbush decrease of March 2012, and the analysis of possible emission, at energies above 30 GeV, for long gamma-ray bursts GRB111016B and GRB120328B.Comment: Accepted for pubblication in Astroparticle Physics Journal (20 pages, 10 figures). Corresponding authors: A.Marinelli and D.Zaboro

Health status and labor force participation : evidence for urban low and middle income individuals in Colombia

This paper analyzes the relationship between individual health status and labor force participation using the first wave of the Colombian Longitudinal Survey. The empirical modeling strategy accounts for the presence of potential endogeneity between these two variables. The results show that there is a positive relationship between health and labor force participation in both directions, indicating that better health is likely to lead to a higher probability of participation in the labor market, but also that individuals who participate in the labor market are more likely to report better health. Interesting differences are uncovered when comparing the results by gender and/or age groups. For instance, for younger females, health status and higher education positively affect the probability of labor participation, whereas having children under the age of 5 and being married reduce their probability of participation. Our findings also highlight the importance of public policy to guarantee good health conditions of the population which could also have a positive impact on labor productivity and consequently on long-run economic growth.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Identification of Plasmodium vivax Proteins with Potential Role in Invasion Using Sequence Redundancy Reduction and Profile Hidden Markov Models

BACKGROUND: This study describes a bioinformatics approach designed to identify Plasmodium vivax proteins potentially involved in reticulocyte invasion. Specifically, different protein training sets were built and tuned based on different biological parameters, such as experimental evidence of secretion and/or involvement in invasion-related processes. A profile-based sequence method supported by hidden Markov models (HMMs) was then used to build classifiers to search for biologically-related proteins. The transcriptional profile of the P. vivax intra-erythrocyte developmental cycle was then screened using these classifiers. RESULTS: A bioinformatics methodology for identifying potentially secreted P. vivax proteins was designed using sequence redundancy reduction and probabilistic profiles. This methodology led to identifying a set of 45 proteins that are potentially secreted during the P. vivax intra-erythrocyte development cycle and could be involved in cell invasion. Thirteen of the 45 proteins have already been described as vaccine candidates; there is experimental evidence of protein expression for 7 of the 32 remaining ones, while no previous studies of expression, function or immunology have been carried out for the additional 25. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the idea that probabilistic techniques like profile HMMs improve similarity searches. Also, different adjustments such as sequence redundancy reduction using Pisces or Cd-Hit allowed data clustering based on rational reproducible measurements. This kind of approach for selecting proteins with specific functions is highly important for supporting large-scale analyses that could aid in the identification of genes encoding potential new target antigens for vaccine development and drug design. The present study has led to targeting 32 proteins for further testing regarding their ability to induce protective immune responses against P. vivax malaria

Observation of inverse Compton emission from a long γ-ray burst.

Long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) originate from ultra-relativistic jets launched from the collapsing cores of dying massive stars. They are characterized by an initial phase of bright and highly variable radiation in the kiloelectronvolt-to-megaelectronvolt band, which is probably produced within the jet and lasts from milliseconds to minutes, known as the prompt emission1,2. Subsequently, the interaction of the jet with the surrounding medium generates shock waves that are responsible for the afterglow emission, which lasts from days to months and occurs over a broad energy range from the radio to the gigaelectronvolt bands1-6. The afterglow emission is generally well explained as synchrotron radiation emitted by electrons accelerated by the external shock7-9. Recently, intense long-lasting emission between 0.2 and 1 teraelectronvolts was observed from GRB 190114C10,11. Here we report multi-frequency observations of GRB 190114C, and study the evolution in time of the GRB emission across 17 orders of magnitude in energy, from 5 × 10-6 to 1012 electronvolts. We find that the broadband spectral energy distribution is double-peaked, with the teraelectronvolt emission constituting a distinct spectral component with power comparable to the synchrotron component. This component is associated with the afterglow and is satisfactorily explained by inverse Compton up-scattering of synchrotron photons by high-energy electrons. We find that the conditions required to account for the observed teraelectronvolt component are typical for GRBs, supporting the possibility that inverse Compton emission is commonly produced in GRBs

On the sensitivity of the HAWC observatory to gamma-ray bursts

We present the sensitivity of HAWC to Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). HAWC is a very high-energy gamma-ray observatory currently under construction in Mexico at an altitude of 4100 m. It will observe atmospheric air showers via the water Cherenkov method. HAWC will consist of 300 large water tanks instrumented with 4 photomultipliers each. HAWC has two data acquisition (DAQ) systems. The main DAQ system reads out coincident signals in the tanks and reconstructs the direction and energy of individual atmospheric showers. The scaler DAQ counts the hits in each photomultiplier tube (PMT) in the detector and searches for a statistical excess over the noise of all PMTs. We show that HAWC has a realistic opportunity to observe the high-energy power law components of GRBs that extend at least up to 30 GeV, as it has been observed by Fermi LAT. The two DAQ systems have an energy threshold that is low enough to observe events similar to GRB 090510 and GRB 090902b with the characteristics observed by Fermi LAT. HAWC will provide information about the high-energy spectra of GRBs which in turn could help to understanding about e-pair attenuation in GRB jets, extragalactic background light absorption, as well as establishing the highest energy to which GRBs accelerate particles