Exploring the diversity of anaerobic sludge towards glycerol valorization

The large amounts of glycerol produced by the biodiesel industry (10 % of the total biodiesel production) can create environmental and economic losses if sustainable strategies are not applied to utilize the surplus of this compound. The production of valuable chemical compounds by anaerobic microorganisms can be a sustainable treatment strategy to add value to waste-glycerol and to the biodiesel industry. The objective of this work was to study the diversity and physiology of anaerobic microorganisms involved in glycerol consumption and valorization. Mesophilic enrichments were developed under sulfate-reducing and methanogenic conditions, using as inoculum anaerobic granular sludge from a brewery wastewater treatment plant. After several transfers, three different stable cultures were obtained, with the capacity to grow with glycerol under different culture conditions. One enrichment, ferments glycerol mainly to propionate, with a yield of 0.88 mM propionate per mM glycerol consumed. This culture is dominated by a bacterium closely affiliated with Propionivibrio pelophilus strain asp 66, 98.5% ID based on 16S rRNA genes. The P. pelophilus strain asp 66 was reported to be unable to grow with glycerol. A second enriched culture was obtained which is constituted of Desulfovibrio alcoholivorans, 99.5% ID, and the methanogen Methanofollis liminatans strain GKZOZ, 98.8% ID. Incubations with 2-bromoethanesulfonate confirmed that this is a syntrophic co-culture. Desulfovibrio alcoholivorans converts the glycerol to acetate and H2 and the methanogenic partner consumes the H2, making glycerol degradation thermodynamically viable. In the third enriched culture, Desulfovibrio sulfodismutans strain ThAcO1, 97.5 % ID, reduces glycerol to acetate, but only in the presence of sulfate or a methanogenic partner. In conclusion, starting from the same inoculum (anaerobic sludge), glycerol could be metabolized through different pathways by the enrichment cultures obtained. Fermentative, syntrophic and sulfate-reducing cultures were enriched forming valuable products that can be used in industrial applications or as energy carriers. Thus, anaerobic microbial communities are an asset to surpass the bottleneck of biodiesel production caused by the surplus of glycerol, allowing it to be sustainably treated and valorized.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Incidencia de tumor carcinoide en apendicectomía por apendicitis aguda; 5 años de experiencia en HNERM

Objetivos: Determinar los casos de tumor carcinoide en pacientes apendicectomizados por apendicitis aguda, en el Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins, EsSalud. Diseño: Descriptivo, observacional. Institución: Instituto Nacional de Biología Andina, Facultad de Medicina, UNMSM, y Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins, EsSalud. Materiales: Se revisó 9 452 informes de diagnóstico anatomopatológico de apendicectomías recibidas en el Servicio de Patología Quirúrgica, entre el año 2003 y el 2007. Intervenciones: Revisión de casos con el diagnóstico anatomopatológico. Principales medidas de resultados: Incidencia de cáncer de tumor carcinoide y su estratificación por edad y género. Resultados: De las 9 452 apendicectomías por apendicitis aguda realizadas, se registró siete casos de tumor carcinoide, con lo cual se obtuvo una incidencia de 0,07%. Dado el volumen de apendicectomías en el HNERM, se observa que el hallazgo de tumor carcinoide se presenta un caso por año. El 100% de estos casos correspondió a mujeres y las edades variaron entre 11 y 62 años, con una mediana de 26 años. Conclusiones: El tumor carcinoide es una neoplasia relativamente rara. Sin embargo, se presenta ocasionalmente, por lo que se recomienda el estudio histopatológico de las piezas de apendicectomía, debido a su baja sospecha diagnóstica clínica

Incidencia del cáncer de vesícula biliar en pacientes colecistectomizados por litiasis: 5 años de experiencia en el HNERM

Objetivos: Determinar la incidencia de cáncer de vesícula biliar en pacientes colecistectomizados por litiasis vesicular. Diseño: Descriptivo, observacional. Institución: Instituto Nacional de Biología Andina, Facultad de Medicina, UNMSM, y Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins, EsSalud. Material anatomopatológico: Informes de diagnóstico anatomopatológico de colecistectomías recibidas. Intervenciones: Revisión de 12 966 informes de diagnóstico anatomopatológico de colecistectomías recibidas en el Servicio de Patología Quirúrgica, desde el año 2003 hasta el 2007. Principales medidas de resultados: Incidencia de cáncer de vesícula biliar y su estratificación por edad y género. Resultados: Se registró 92 casos de cáncer, con lo cual se obtuvo una incidencia promedio de 0,71%. Dado el volumen de colecistectomías, en el HNERM se observó la presentación de cáncer en uno a dos casos por mes. El 100% de estos casos correspondía a adenocarcinoma, 93,7% a personas mayores de 50 años y 69,7% a mujeres. Conclusiones: El carcinoma de vesícula biliar es una neoplasia maligna relativamente rara. Sin embargo, el porcentaje de pacientes con diagnóstico de cáncer de vesícula biliar luego de colecistectomía simple debida a cálculos biliares fue 0,71%. Si bien es cierto la incidencia fue relativamente baja, se recomienda el estudio histopatológico de las piezas de colecistectomía, debido a su baja sospecha diagnóstica clínica, imagenológica y quirúrgica

Spatiotemporal Distribution Of Different Extracellular Polymeric Substances And Filamentation Mediate Xylella Fastidiosa Adhesion And Biofilm Formation

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Microorganism pathogenicity strongly relies on the generation of multicellular assemblies, called biofilms. Understanding their organization can unveil vulnerabilities leading to potential treatments; spatially and temporally-resolved comprehensive experimental characterization can provide new details of biofilm formation, and possibly new targets for disease control. Here, biofilm formation of economically important phytopathogen Xylella fastidiosa was analyzed at single-cell resolution using nanometer-resolution spectro-microscopy techniques, addressing the role of different types of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) at each stage of the entire bacterial life cycle. Single cell adhesion is caused by unspecific electrostatic interactions through proteins at the cell polar region, where EPS accumulation is required for more firmly-attached, irreversibly adhered cells. Subsequently, bacteria form clusters, which are embedded in secreted loosely-bound EPS, and bridged by up to ten-fold elongated cells that form the biofilm framework. During biofilm maturation, soluble EPS forms a filamentous matrix that facilitates cell adhesion and provides mechanical support, while the biofilm keeps anchored by few cells. This floating architecture maximizes nutrient distribution while allowing detachment upon larger shear stresses; it thus complies with biological requirements of the bacteria life cycle. Using new approaches, our findings provide insights regarding different aspects of the adhesion process of X. fastidiosa and biofilm formation.5Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [2010/51748-7, 2010/18107-8, 2010/50712-9]CNPq [479486/2012-3]CNPq [573913/2008-0]FAPESP [08/57906-3

Is there an association between PEPFAR funding and improvement in national health indicators in Africa? A retrospective study

BACKGROUND: The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was reauthorized in June 2008 with a three-fold increase in funds, and a broader, more explicit mandate to improve health in the low- and middle-income countries that it funded. However, the ability of a disease-specific, or vertical, programme to have a spill-over effect and improve health outcomes has been questioned. In this study, we sought to examine associations between being designated as a PEPFAR focus country (and receiving increased PEPFAR funding) and non-HIV-specific health outcomes in the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, the area most affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of publicly available health outcomes data published by the World Health Organization was performed for all countries in the WHO Africa Region. Fractional changes in health indicators between 2000 and 2006 were calculated, and PEPFAR focus and non-focus countries were then compared. RESULTS: Overall, countries in the WHO Africa Region showed a small worsening in health outcomes status when all indicators were analyzed together and weighted equally. However, more health indicators improved than worsened over this six-year period. A comparison of PEPFAR focus and non-focus countries found no significant difference in the fractional change among 13 of 14 health indicators during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that vertical programmes, even one that is the scale of PEPFAR, may have little or no impact on health outcomes not explicitly targeted

Application of reflectance parameters in the estimation of the structural order of coals and carbonaceous materials. Precision and bias of measurements derived from the ICCP structural working group

Optical reflectance of vitrinite is one of the fundamental physical properties that have been used for the study of coal and carbonaceous materials. Organic matter in coals and carbonaceous matter consists mainly of aromatic lamellae, whose dimensions and spatial orientation define its internal structure. Various reflectance parameters describe well the average degree of order of the molecular structure of organic matter. Moreover, reflectance parameters are numerical values which characterize the samples unambiguously, facilitating the comparison of the optical properties of different carbonaceous materials as well as comparison between optical parameters and other physical or chemical factors. The focus of this study is the evaluation of the precision and bias of reflectance measurements (R and R) performed by various analysts in different laboratories in order to check the applicability of reflectance parameters to the estimation of the structural order of coals and carbonaceous materials. Additionally, it was desirable to compare reflectance parameters with other parameters obtained by different analytical methods able to provide structural information. The consistency and repeatability of the reflectance measurements obtained by different participants turned out to enable the drawing of similar conclusions regarding the structural transformation of anthracite during heating. Good correlations were found between the reflectance parameters studied and structural factors obtained by comparative methods. The reflectance parameters examined proved to be very sensitive to any changes of the structural order of coals and carbonaceous materials and seem to be a perfect complement to structural studies made by X-ray diffraction or Raman spectroscopy

Genome-wide meta-analysis for Alzheimer's disease cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers

Amyloid-beta 42 (A?42) and phosphorylated tau (pTau) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) reflect core features of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) more directly than clinical diagnosis. Initiated by the European Alzheimer & Dementia Biobank (EADB), the largest collaborative effort on genetics underlying CSF biomarkers was established, including 31 cohorts with a total of 13,116 individuals (discovery n = 8074; replication n = 5042 individuals). Besides the APOE locus, novel associations with two other well-established AD risk loci were observed; CR1 was shown a locus for A?42 and BIN1 for pTau. GMNC and C16orf95 were further identified as loci for pTau, of which the latter is novel. Clustering methods exploring the influence of all known AD risk loci on the CSF protein levels, revealed 4 biological categories suggesting multiple A?42 and pTau related biological pathways involved in the etiology of AD. In functional follow-up analyses, GMNC and C16orf95 both associated with lateral ventricular volume, implying an overlap in genetic etiology for tau levels and brain ventricular volume

PROmotion of COvid-19 VA(X)ccination in the Emergency Department-PROCOVAXED: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: We conducted in-depth interviews to characterize reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in emergency department (ED) patients and developed messaging platforms that may address their concerns. In this trial, we seek to determine whether provision of these COVID-19 vaccine messaging platforms in EDs will be associated with greater COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake in unvaccinated ED patients. Methods: This is a cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating our COVID-19 vaccine messaging platforms in seven hospital EDs (mix of academic, community, and safety-net EDs) in four US cities. Within each study site, we randomized 30 1-week periods to the intervention and 30 1-week periods to the control. Adult patients who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine are eligible with these exclusions: (1) major trauma, intoxication, altered mental status, or critical illness; (2) incarceration; (3) psychiatric chief complaint; and (4) suspicion of acute COVID-19 illness. Participants receive an orally administered Intake survey. During intervention weeks, participants then receive three COVID-19 vaccine messaging platforms (4-min video, one-page informational flyer and a brief, scripted face-to-face message delivered by an ED physician or nurse); patients enrolled during non-intervention weeks do not receive these platforms. Approximately, an hour after intake surveys, participants receive a Vaccine Acceptance survey during which the primary outcome of acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine in the ED is ascertained. The other primary outcome of receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine within 32 days is ascertained by electronic health record review and phone follow-up. To determine whether provision of vaccine messaging platforms is associated with a 7% increase in vaccine acceptance and uptake, we will need to enroll 1290 patients. Discussion: Highlighting the difficulties of trial implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic in acute care settings, our novel trial will lay the groundwork for delivery of public health interventions to vulnerable populations whose only health care access occurs in EDs. Conclusions: Toward addressing vaccine hesitancy in vulnerable populations who seek care in EDs, our cluster-RCT will determine whether implementation of vaccine messaging platforms is associated with greater COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake in unvaccinated ED patients. Trial status: We began enrollment in December 2021 and expect to continue through 2022. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05142332 . Registered 02 December 2021

A Unique Regulator Contributes to Quorum Sensing and Virulence in Burkholderia cenocepacia

Burkholderia cenocepacia causes chronic and life-threatening respiratory infections in immunocompromized people. The B. cenocepacia N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-dependent quorum sensing system relies on the production of AHLs by the synthases CepI and CciI while CepR, CciR and CepR2 control expression of many genes important for pathogenesis. Downstream from, and co-transcribed with cepI, lies BCAM1871 encoding a hypothetical protein that was uncharacterized prior to this study. Orthologs of B. cenocepacia BCAM1871 are uniquely found in Burkholderia spp and are conserved in their genomic locations in pathogenic Burkholderia. We observed significant effects on AHL activity upon mutation or overexpression of BCAM1871, although these effects were more subtle than those observed for CepI indicating BCAM1871 acts as an enhancer of AHL activity. Transcription of cepI, cepR and cciIR was significantly reduced in the BCAM1871 mutant. Swimming and swarming motilities as well as transcription of fliC, encoding flagellin, were significantly reduced in the BCAM1871 mutant. Protease activity and transcription of zmpA and zmpB, encoding extracellular zinc metalloproteases, were undetectable in the BCAM1871 mutant indicating a more significant effect of mutating BCAM1871 than cepI. Exogenous addition of OHL restored cepI, cepR and fliC transcription but had no effect on motility, protease activity or zmpA or zmpB transcription suggesting AHL-independent effects. The BCAM1871 mutant exhibited significantly reduced virulence in rat chronic respiratory and nematode infection models. Gene expression and phenotypic assays as well as vertebrate and invertebrate infection models showed that BCAM1871 significantly contributes to pathogenesis in B. cenocepacia