Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Burkholderia contaminans FFH2055 Strain Reveals the Presence of Putative β-Lactamases

Burkholderia contaminans is a member of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), a pathogen with increasing prevalence among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and the cause of numerous outbreaks due to the use of contaminated commercial products. The antibiotic resistance determinants, particularly β-lactamases, have been poorly studied in this species. In this work, we explored the whole genome sequence (WGS) of a B. contaminans isolate (FFH 2055) and detected four putative β-lactamase-encoding genes. In general, these genes have more than 93% identity with β-lactamase genes found in other Bcc species. Two β-lactamases, a class A (Pen-like, suggested name PenO) and a class D (OXA-like), were further analyzed and characterized. Amino acid sequence comparison showed that Pen-like has 82% and 67% identity with B. multivorans PenA and B. pseudomallei PenI, respectively, while OXA-like displayed strong homology with class D enzymes within the Bcc, but only 22–44% identity with available structures from the OXA family. PCR reactions designed to study the presence of these two genes revealed a heterogeneous distribution among clinical and industrial B. contaminans isolates. Lastly, bla PenO gene was cloned and expressed into E. coli to investigate the antibiotic resistance profile and confers an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) phenotype. These results provide insight into the presence of β-lactamases in B. contaminans, suggesting they play a role in antibiotic resistance of these bacteria.Fil: Degrossi, José J.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Merino, Cindy. University Fullerton; Estados UnidosFil: Isasmendi, Adela M.. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Pediatría "Juan P. Garrahan"; ArgentinaFil: Ibarra, Lorena M.. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; ArgentinaFil: Collins, Chelsea. University Fullerton; Estados UnidosFil: Bo, Nicolás E.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Papalia, Mariana Andrea. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Microbiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, Jennifer S.. University Fullerton; Estados UnidosFil: Hernandez, Claudia M.. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Pediatría "Juan P. Garrahan"; ArgentinaFil: Papp Wallace, Krisztina M.. Case Western Reserve University; Estados UnidosFil: Bonomo, Robert A.. Case Western Reserve University; Estados UnidosFil: Vazquez, Miryam S.. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; ArgentinaFil: Power, Pablo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Microbiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Ramirez, María S.. University Fullerton; Estados Unido

A 3D REPOSITORY OF DINOSAUR TEETH: THE GENERATION OF OPEN RESOURCES FOR THE CLASSIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIMENS

Among the many valuable uses of the artificial intelligence in the field of museums, it may assist the classification of out-of-context items. This paper deals with the problem of the identification of dinosaur teeth (a type of fossil that is usually found scattered), which can be tackled by means of multivariate algorithms (such as the principal components, discriminant or cluster analyses) taking as a starting point a series of morphometric values (i.e., distances between specific points of the fossil tooth). A good interpretation requires some comprehension regarding the mathematical algorithms that are used, as well as the specific knowledge in palaeontology that permits appreciating the actual reach of the results. However, based on metric values as the computations are, there must also be some control over their precision and the possibility of checking the old measurements or complete the list of morphometric variables. This is an aspect that may be solved if the three-dimensional models of the teeth are made publicly available.The text describes the 3D documentation of a set of twelve fossil teeth of the museum of Natural Sciences of Álava (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain) —approximately from 1 to 6 cm in size— using a structured light scanner and close-up photographs for recording some features smaller than the resolution of the scanner. The information about each tooth was then packed and uploaded to the university repository, from where it is also accessible via cultural and scientific aggregators (such as Europeana); likewise, reduced resolution copies are also accessible in the commercial platform Sketchfab&reg;.</p

Newly recorded plant-aphid associations: Implications for PLRV and PVY control in potato crops

The most important viral diseases in potato crops are PVY and PLRV, and they are efficiently transmitted by numerous aphids being Myzus persicae and Macrosiphum euphorbiae, the most important. These vector aphids are highly polyphagous and are widely distributed; and since PVY and PLRV have a broad host range there can be a wide diversity of plants hosting vector aphids, and/or being reservoirs of the viruses, in the community of plants associated with potato crops. Here, we searched for plants growing in the areas adjacent to potato crops in Salta, Argentina, to find plants that represent a risk for potato crops for being hosts of aphid vectors and/or reservoirs of PLRV and PVY. We found 34 plant species belonging to 16 families hosting aphids, from these 11 plant species were reported as hosts for PVY and/or PLRV. Also, we found 27 aphid species and 18 of them have been reported as vectors for PLRV and/or PVY. Three aphid species were found on most plants; M. persicae, M. euphorbiae and Aphis gossypii. Altogether, we found 95 plant-aphid associations in potato fields, of which 16 are newly recorded plant-aphid associations. These new associations likely arose from the great diversity of plants hosting a great diversity of aphids reported as vectors of PLRV and PVY, in a changing and dynamic agricultural ecosystem. The results that we present have implications for PLRV and PVY control in potato and other related crops.Fil: Machado Assefh, Cristina Renata. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Said Adamo, María del Milagro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Cortéz, Sabrina Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: López Gialdi, Agustín I.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: López Isasmendi, Guadalupe. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Ortego, Jaime. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Adriana E.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; Argentin

A wideband and high-linearity <i>E</i>-band transmitter integrated in a 55-nm SiGe technology for backhaul point-to-point 10-Gb/s links

This paper presents the design of a wideband and high-linearity E-band transmitter integrated in a 55-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology. It consists of a double-balanced bipolar ring mixer which upconverts a 16-21-GHz IF signal to the 71-76- and 81-86-GHz bands by the use of a 55/65-GHz local oscillator signal, followed by a broadband power amplifier which employs 2-way output power combining using an integrated low-loss balun transformer. The transmitter exhibits an average conversion gain of 24 dB and 22 dB at the 71-76- and 81-86-GHz bands, respectively, with an output 1-dB compression point greater than 14 and 11.5 dBm at each band. A maximum output power of 16.8 dBm is measured at 71 GHz. The dc power consumption is 575 mW. The presented transmitter is used to demonstrate the transmission of a 10.12-Gb/s 64 quadrature amplitude modulated signal with a spectral efficiency of 5.06 bit/s/Hz, which makes it suitable for use in future highcapacity backhaul and fronthaul point-to-point links

A wideband and high-linearity <i>E</i>-band transmitter integrated in a 55-nm SiGe technology for backhaul point-to-point 10-Gb/s links

This paper presents the design of a wideband and high-linearity E-band transmitter integrated in a 55-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology. It consists of a double-balanced bipolar ring mixer which upconverts a 16-21-GHz IF signal to the 71-76- and 81-86-GHz bands by the use of a 55/65-GHz local oscillator signal, followed by a broadband power amplifier which employs 2-way output power combining using an integrated low-loss balun transformer. The transmitter exhibits an average conversion gain of 24 dB and 22 dB at the 71-76- and 81-86-GHz bands, respectively, with an output 1-dB compression point greater than 14 and 11.5 dBm at each band. A maximum output power of 16.8 dBm is measured at 71 GHz. The dc power consumption is 575 mW. The presented transmitter is used to demonstrate the transmission of a 10.12-Gb/s 64 quadrature amplitude modulated signal with a spectral efficiency of 5.06 bit/s/Hz, which makes it suitable for use in future highcapacity backhaul and fronthaul point-to-point links

Augmented renal clearance. An unnoticed relevant event

Altres ajuts: Blood Purification Therapies Collaboration Group; Catalan Society of Intensive Care Medicine.Augmented renal clearance (ARC) is a phenomenon that can lead to a therapeutic failure of those drugs of renal clearance. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the prevalence of ARC in the critically ill patient, to study the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) throughout the follow-up and analyze the concordance between the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) estimation formula and measured GFR. Observational, prospective, multicenter study. ARC was defined as a creatinine clearance greater than 130 ml/min/1.73 m. Eighteen hospitals were recruited. GFR measurements carried out twice weekly during a 2-month follow-up period. A total of 561 patients were included. ARC was found to have a non-negligible prevalence of 30%. More even, up to 10.7% already had ARC at intensive care unit (ICU) admission. No specific pattern of GFR was found during the follow-up. Patients in the ARC group were younger 56.5 (53.5-58.5) versus 66 (63.5-68.5) years than in the non-ARC group, p < 0.001. ICU mortality was lower in the ARC group, 6.9% versus 14.5%, p = 0.003. There was no concordance between the estimation of GFR by the CKD-EPI formula and GFR calculated from the 4-h urine. ARC is found in up to 30% of ICU patients, so renal removal drugs could be under dosed by up to 30%. And ARC is already detected on admission in 10%. It is a dynamic phenomenon without an established pattern that usually occurs in younger patients that can last for several weeks. And the CKD-EPI formula does not work to estimate the real creatinine clearance of these patients

La imperiosa necesidad de la ambulancia en las villas y barrios populares

Los curas compartimos la vida con nuestros vecinos, viviendo en la villa. Todos los días, los más pobres se encuentran con la vida y la muerte, con la salud y la enfermedad, luchando por una vida digna. Muchas veces hemos manifestado el dolor que produce la privación de oportunidades y derechos por vivir en barrios llamados marginales: falta de vacante en escuelas, inseguridad en sentido amplio, rechazo en trabajos por vivir en una villa, transporte público deficiente, sistema de salud expulsivo... En este último punto queremos focalizar esta declaración. Desde hace décadas, en las villas del llamado “AMBA” (ciudad de Buenos Aires y Conurbano) es insuficiente, hasta deficiente, el servicio de emergencias médicas. Hubo causas judiciales pero sigue sucediendo que muchas veces la ambulancia llega más tarde de lo estipulado. En todo este tiempo ha pasado numerosas veces que la persona falleció antes de que llegara la emergencia médica. ¡Cuántas muertes se habrían evitado si la ambulancia hubiera llegado a tiempo! Demasiados vecinos de barrios pobres fallecieron desangrados mientras la ambulancia no llegaba. No consideramos que sea excusa la imposibilidad de llegar a los pasillos. Siempre hay un punto al que el móvil puede llegar y entre los vecinos y las fuerzas de seguridad acompañar al personal de salud hasta el domicilio o lugar donde se encuentra el damnificado. Durante este tiempo de pandemia y cuarentena se han visibilizado retrasos con consecuencias indeseables..