A New Biomarker to Examine the Role of Hippocampal Function in the Development of Spatial Reorientation in Children: A Review

Spatial navigation is an adaptive skill that involves determining the route to a particular goal or location, and then traveling that path. A major component of spatial navigation is spatial reorientation, or the ability to reestablish a sense of direction after being disoriented. The hippocampus is known to be critical for navigating, and has more recently been implicated in reorienting in adults, but relatively little is known about the development of the hippocampus in relation to these large-scale spatial abilities in children. It has been established that, compared to school-aged children, preschool children tend to perform poorly on certain spatial reorientation tasks, suggesting that their hippocampi may not be mature enough to process the demands of such a task. Currently, common techniques used to examine underlying brain activity, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), are not suitable for examining hippocampal development in young children. In the present paper, we argue instead for the use of eyeblink conditioning (EBC), a relatively under-utilized, inexpensive, and safe method that is easy to implement in developing populations. In addition, EBC has a well defined neural circuitry, which includes the hippocampus, making it an ideal tool to indirectly measure hippocampal functioning in young children. In this review, we will evaluate the literature on EBC and its relation to hippocampal development, and discuss the possibility of using EBC as an objective measure of associative learning in relation to large-scale spatial skills. We support the use of EBC as a way to indirectly access hippocampal function in typical and atypical populations in order to characterize the neural substrates associated with the development of spatial reorientation abilities in early childhood. As such, EBC is a potential, simple biomarker for success in tasks that require the hippocampus, including spatial reorientation

Labels direct infants’ attention to commonalities during novel category learning

Recent studies have provided evidence that labeling can influence the outcome of infants’ visual categorization. However, what exactly happens during learning remains unclear. Using eye-tracking, we examined infants’ attention to object parts during learning. Our analysis of looking behaviors during learning provide insights going beyond merely observing the learning outcome. Both labeling and non-labeling phrases facilitated category formation in 12-month-olds but not 8-month-olds (Experiment 1). Non-linguistic sounds did not produce this effect (Experiment 2). Detailed analyses of infants’ looking patterns during learning revealed that only infants who heard labels exhibited a rapid focus on the object part successive exemplars had in common. Although other linguistic stimuli may also be beneficial for learning, it is therefore concluded that labels have a unique impact on categorization

Every fifth published metagenome is not available to science

Have you ever sought to use metagenomic DNA sequences reported in scientific publications? Were you successful? Here, we reveal that metagenomes from no fewer than 20% of the papers found in our literature search, published between 2016 and 2019, were not deposited in a repository or were simply inaccessible. The proportion of inaccessible data within the literature has been increasing year-on-year. Noncompliance with Open Data is best predicted by the scientific discipline of the journal. The number of citations, journal type (e.g., Open Access or subscription journals), and publisher are not good predictors of data accessibility. However, many publications in high–impact factor journals do display a higher likelihood of accessible metagenomic data sets. Twenty-first century science demands compliance with the ethical standard of data sharing of metagenomes and DNA sequence data more broadly. Data accessibility must become one of the routine and mandatory components of manuscript submissions—a requirement that should be applicable across the increasing number of disciplines using metagenomics. Compliance must be ensured and reinforced by funders, publishers, editors, reviewers, and, ultimately, the authors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tertiary-Treated Municipal Wastewater is a Significant Point Source of Antibiotic Resistance Genes Into Duluth-Superior Harbor

In this study, the impact of tertiary-treated municipal wastewater on the quantity of several antibiotic resistance determinants in Duluth-Superior Harbor was investigated by collecting surface water and sediment samples from 13 locations in Duluth-Superior Harbor, the St. Louis River, and Lake Superior. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to target three different genes encoding resistance to tetracycline (tet(A), tet(X), and tet(W)), the gene encoding the integrase of class 1 integrons (intI1), and total bacterial abundance (16S rRNA genes) as well as total and human fecal contamination levels (16S rRNA genes specific to the genus Bacteroides). The quantities of tet(A), tet(X), tet(W), intI1, total Bacteroides, and human-specific Bacteroides were typically 20-fold higher in the tertiary-treated wastewater than in nearby surface water samples. In contrast, the quantities of these genes in the St. Louis River and Lake Superior were typically below detection. Analysis of sequences of tet(W) gene fragments from four different samples collected throughout the study site supported the conclusion that tertiary-treated municipal wastewater is a point source of resistance genes into Duluth-Superior Harbor. This study demonstrates that the discharge of exceptionally treated municipal wastewater can have a statistically significant effect on the quantities of antibiotic resistance genes in otherwise pristine surface waters

Water and sanitation: an essential battlefront in the war on antimicrobial resistance

Water and sanitation represent a key battlefront in combatting the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Basic water sanitation infrastructure is an essential first step towards protecting public health, thereby limiting the spread of pathogens and the need for antibiotics. AMR presents unique human health risks, meriting new risk assessment frameworks specifically adapted to water and sanitation-borne AMR. There are numerous exposure routes to AMR originating from human waste, each of which must be quantified for its relative risk to human health. Wastewater treatment plants play a vital role in centralized collection and treatment of human sewage, but there are numerous unresolved issues in terms of the microbial ecological processes occurring within them and the extent to which they attenuate or amplify AMR. Research is needed to advance understanding of the fate of resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in various waste management systems, depending on the local constraints and intended reuse applications. World Health Organization and national AMR action plans would benefit from a more holistic 'One Water' understanding. In this article we provide a framework for research, policy, practice and public engagement aimed at limiting the spread of AMR from water and sanitation in low-, medium- and high-income countries

Environmental Emission of Pharmaceuticals from Wastewater Treatment Plants in the USA

The residual drugs, drug bioconjugates, and their metabolites, mostly from human and veterinary usage, are routinely flushed down the drain, and enter wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Increasing population, excessive use of allopathic medicine, continual introduction of novel drugs, and existing inefficient wastewater treatment processes result in the discharge of large volumes of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites from the WWTPs into the environment. The effluent from the WWTPs globally contaminate ~25% of rivers and the lakes. Pharmaceuticals in the environment, as contaminants of emerging concerns, behave as pseudo-persistent despite their relatively short environmental half-lives in the environment. Therefore, residual levels of pharmaceuticals in the environment not only pose a threat to the wildlife but also affect human health through contaminated food and drinking water. This chapter highlights WWTPs as point-sources of their environmental emissions and various effects on the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem

MUC1 Limits Helicobacter pylori Infection both by Steric Hindrance and by Acting as a Releasable Decoy

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori can cause peptic ulcer disease, gastric adenocarcinoma and MALT lymphoma. The cell-surface mucin MUC1 is a large glycoprotein which is highly expressed on the mucosal surface and limits the density of H. pylori in a murine infection model. We now demonstrate that by using the BabA and SabA adhesins, H. pylori bind MUC1 isolated from human gastric cells and MUC1 shed into gastric juice. Both H. pylori carrying these adhesins, and beads coated with MUC1 antibodies, induced shedding of MUC1 from MKN7 human gastric epithelial cells, and shed MUC1 was found bound to H. pylori. Shedding of MUC1 from non-infected cells was not mediated by the known MUC1 sheddases ADAM17 and MMP-14. However, knockdown of MMP-14 partially affected MUC1 release early in infection, whereas ADAM17 had no effect. Thus, it is likely that shedding is mediated both by proteases and by disassociation of the non-covalent interaction between the α- and β-subunits. H. pylori bound more readily to MUC1 depleted cells even when the bacteria lacked the BabA and SabA adhesins, showing that MUC1 inhibits attachment even when bacteria cannot bind to the mucin. Bacteria lacking both the BabA and SabA adhesins caused less apoptosis in MKN7 cells than wild-type bacteria, having a greater effect than deletion of the CagA pathogenicity gene. Deficiency of MUC1/Muc1 resulted in increased epithelial cell apoptosis, both in MKN7 cells in vitro, and in H. pylori infected mice. Thus, MUC1 protects the epithelium from non-MUC1 binding bacteria by inhibiting adhesion to the cell surface by steric hindrance, and from MUC1-binding bacteria by acting as a releasable decoy

A global multinational survey of cefotaxime-resistant coliforms in urban wastewater treatment plants

The World Health Organization Global Action Plan recommends integrated surveillance programs as crucial strategies for monitoring antibiotic resistance. Although several national surveillance programs are in place for clinical and veterinary settings, no such schemes exist for monitoring antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment. In this transnational study, we developed, validated, and tested a low-cost surveillance and easy to implement approach to evaluate antibiotic resistance in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) by targeting cefotaxime-resistant (CTX-R) coliforms as indicators. The rationale for this approach was: i) coliform quantification methods are internationally accepted as indicators of fecal contamination in recreational waters and are therefore routinely applied in analytical labs; ii) CTX-R coliforms are clinically relevant, associated with extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), and are rare in pristine environments. We analyzed 57 WWTPs in 22 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North America. CTX-R coliforms were ubiquitous in raw sewage and their relative abundance varied significantly (<0.1% to 38.3%), being positively correlated (p < 0.001) with regional atmospheric temperatures. Although most WWTPs removed large proportions of CTX-R coliforms, loads over 10 colony-forming units per mL were occasionally observed in final effluents. We demonstrate that CTX-R coliform monitoring is a feasible and affordable approach to assess wastewater antibiotic resistance status. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A global multinational survey of cefotaxime-resistant coliforms in urban wastewater treatment plants

The World Health Organization Global Action Plan recommends integrated surveillance programs as crucial strategies for monitoring antibiotic resistance. Although several national surveillance programs are in place for clinical and veterinary settings, no such schemes exist for monitoring antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment. In this transnational study, we developed, validated, and tested a low-cost surveillance and easy to implement approach to evaluate antibiotic resistance in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) by targeting cefotaxime-resistant (CTX-R) coliforms as indicators. The rationale for this approach was: i) coliform quantification methods are internationally accepted as indicators of fecal contamination in recreational waters and are therefore routinely applied in analytical labs; ii) CTX-R coliforms are clinically relevant, associated with extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), and are rare in pristine environments. We analyzed 57 WWTPs in 22 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North America. CTX-R coliforms were ubiquitous in raw sewage and their relative abundance varied significantly (&lt;0.1% to 38.3%), being positively correlated (p &lt; 0.001) with regional atmospheric temperatures. Although most WWTPs removed large proportions of CTX-R coliforms, loads over 103 colony-forming units per mL were occasionally observed in final effluents. We demonstrate that CTX-R coliform monitoring is a feasible and affordable approach to assess wastewater antibiotic resistance status