Monitoring of different vibrio species affecting marine fishes in Lake Qarun and Gulf of Suez: Phenotypic and molecular characterization

Vibriosis is a globally threatening bacterial disease affecting mariculture with high mortalities and severe economic losses. Isolation and Identification of different vibrio species were performed to a total number of one hundred moribund and freshly dead Solea aegyptiaca, Epinephelus marginatus and Mugil cephalus collected from Lake Qarun and Gulf of Suez. Phenotypic picture and molecular identification based on use of 16SrRNA gene sequence confirmed 44 strains as vibrio species. Further molecular identification of retrieved vibrio spp. using species specific primers for collagenase, ToxR and Vvh genes categorized 10 isolates belong to V. alginolyticus, 8 isolates belong to V. parahaemolyticus and 6 isolates belong to V. vulnificus. The total prevalence of vibriosis was 44% where the highest prevalence was recorded in Lake Qarun examined fishes

Association of Supply Type with Fecal Contamination of Source Water and Household Stored Drinking Water in Developing Countries: A Bivariate Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Access to safe drinking water is essential for health. Monitoring access to drinking water focuses on water supply type at the source, but there is limited evidence on whether quality differences at the source persist in water stored in the household. OBJECTIVES: We assessed the extent of fecal contamination at the source and in household stored water (HSW) and explored the relationship between contamination at each sampling point and water supply type. METHODS: We performed a bivariate random-effects meta-analysis of 45 studies, identified through a systematic review, that reported either the proportion of samples free of fecal indicator bacteria and/or individual sample bacteria counts for source and HSW, disaggregated by supply type. RESULTS: Water quality deteriorated substantially between source and stored water. The mean percentage of contaminated samples (noncompliance) at the source was 46% (95% CI: 33, 60%), whereas mean noncompliance in HSW was 75% (95% CI: 64, 84%). Water supply type was significantly associated with noncompliance at the source (p < 0.001) and in HSW (p = 0.03). Source water (OR = 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1, 0.5) and HSW (OR = 0.3; 95% CI: 0.2, 0.8) from piped supplies had significantly lower odds of contamination compared with non-piped water, potentially due to residual chlorine. CONCLUSIONS: Piped water is less likely to be contaminated compared with other water supply types at both the source and in HSW. A focus on upgrading water services to piped supplies may help improve safety, including for those drinking stored water. CITATION: Shields KF, Bain RE, Cronk R, Wright JA, Bartram J. 2015. Association of supply type with fecal contamination of source water and household stored drinking water in developing countries: a bivariate meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect 123:1222–1231; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.140900

Rare type 1-like and type 2-like calreticulin mutants induce similar myeloproliferative neoplasms as prevalent type 1 and 2 mutants in mice.

Frameshift mutations in the calreticulin (CALR) gene are present in 30% of essential thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis patients. The two most frequent mutations are CALR del52 (type 1, approximately 60%) and CALR ins5 (type 2, around 30%), but many other rarer mutations exist accounting each for less than 2% of all CALR mutations. Most of them are structurally classified as type 1-like and type 2-like CALR mutations according to the absence or presence of a residual wild-type calcium-binding motif and the modification of the alpha-helix structure. Yet, several key questions remain unanswered, especially the reason of such low frequencies of these other mutations. In an attempt to investigate specific pathogenic differences between type 1-like and type 2-like CALR mutations and del52 and ins5, we modeled two type 1-like (del34 and del46) and one type 2-like (del19) mutations in cell lines and in mice. All CALR mutants constitutively activate JAK2 and STAT5/3/1 in a similar way in the presence of the thrombopoietin receptor (MPL) and induced cytokine-independent cell growth but to a lesser extent with rare mutants over time. This correlates with reduced expression levels of rare CALR mutants compared to del52 and ins5. Lethally irradiated mice that were engrafted with bone marrow transduced with the different CALR mutations developed thrombocytosis, but to a much lesser extent with ins5 and the type 2-like CALR mutation. In contrast to type 2-like mice, type 1-like mice developed marked myelofibrosis and splenomegaly 10 months after engraftment. Similar to del52, type 1-like CALR mutations induced an expansion at an early stage of hematopoiesis compared to ins5 and type 2-like mutation. Thus, type 1-like and type 2-like CALR mutants structurally and functionally resemble del52 and ins5 mutants, respectively