The role of entero-aggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) strains on diarrheic children in some southern States of Nigeria

The role of entero-aggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) strains on diarrheic children in some southern States of Nigeria was carried out in this paired control study. Escherichia coli isolates from stool specimens of children with diarrhea were matched with controls and tested in HEp-2 cell adherence assay. A total of 800 E. coli strains (2 strains for every test subject) from both 250 children with diarrhea and 150 apparently healthy controls were examined for aggregative adhesion using HEp-2 cells. Statistically significant (P<0.05) EAEC strains were obtained from the diarrheic children 40.6% as against 20% from the control. In this study, Bayelsa State recorded the highest isolate with 21.4 vs 12%, followed by Rivers State (10.8% vs 4.0%), then Imo State the least (8.4% vs 4.0%). Children within 4-8 years age range recorded the highest prevalence in the States studied. High prevalence of intestinal parasites were seen on both groups although the diarrheal group had a statistical significant (91% vs 36%) prevalence (P<0.05). The parasites were Giardia lamblia, Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm and Trichuris trichuria . This showed that intestinal parasites are also important factor in the etiology of diarrhea in this area. There was mixed infection between parasites and EAEC in 5 test subjects in Bayelsa State, but none in the other States and also none from the control. The entero-aggregative E. coli showed marked resistance to conventional antimicrobial agents like cotrimoxazole, ampicillin and chloramphenicol with 80.3%, 81.2% and 61.6% respectively, while the cephalosporins: cefuroxime and ceftazidime showed low resistance with 3.3% and 4.3% respectively, indicating that the cephalosporins will be a good choice for the empirical treatment of bacterial infectious diarrhea in this region.Keywords: HEp-2 cells, Intestinal parasites, Mixed infection, Antimicrobial agents, Cephalosporin

Phenotypic assay of adherent E. coli strains using hep-2 cells on diarrheic children in Rivers State of Nigeria

In this paired case-control study of children with diarrhea in Rivers state, the association between HEp-2–adherent Escherichia coli strains and diarrhea was examined. Escherichia coli isolates from stool specimens of children with diarrhea were matched with controls and tested in HEp-2 cell adherence assay. A total of 266 E. coli strains (2 strains for every test subject) from both 83 children with diarrhea and 50 apparently healthy controls were examined for virulent traits using HEp-2 cells. Statistically significant (P<0.05) adherent strains were obtained from the diarrheic children 18 (21.7%) as against 5(10%) from the control. While EPEC (3.6% vs 0%) and EAEC (10.8% vs 4%) strains were significantly associated with diarrhea (P<0.05), EPEC was isolated only in children <3 years old while EAEC was more distributed on the age ranges studied. There was no significant association of DAEC (7.2% vs 2%) strains isolated from the test subjects and the control group (P>0.05%). High prevalence of parasites were seen on both groups although the diarrheal group had a statistical significant (26.5% vs 16%) prevalence (P<0.05), this showed that intestinal parasites are also important factor in the etiology of diarrhea in this area. The parasites were mostly seen in older children from both groups and this might be attributed to their wandering, playing and eating habits. No mixed infection between parasites, parasite and adherent E. coli or between two adherents E. coli was observed. The adherent isolates showed poor sensitivity to traditional drugs like Ampicillin, Cotrimoxazole and Chloramphenicol, while Cefuroxime and Ceftazidime showed good sensitivity. These data suggest that EAEC may be a pathotype that is increasing in incidence as a cause of diarrhea in children in these areas.Keywords: Adherent E. coli (DEC); Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC); Enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC); Diffusely adherent E. coli (DAEC); Mixed Infections; Intestinal Parasite

Portrait of Candida albicans Adherence Regulators

Cell-substrate adherence is a fundamental property of microorganisms that enables them to exist in biofilms. Our study focuses on adherence of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans to one substrate, silicone, that is relevant to device-associated infection. We conducted a mutant screen with a quantitative flow-cell assay to identify thirty transcription factors that are required for adherence. We then combined nanoString gene expression profiling with functional analysis to elucidate relationships among these transcription factors, with two major goals: to extend our understanding of transcription factors previously known to govern adherence or biofilm formation, and to gain insight into the many transcription factors we identified that were relatively uncharacterized, particularly in the context of adherence or cell surface biogenesis. With regard to the first goal, we have discovered a role for biofilm regulator Bcr1 in adherence, and found that biofilm regulator Ace2 is a major functional target of chromatin remodeling factor Snf5. In addition, Bcr1 and Ace2 share several target genes, pointing to a new connection between them. With regard to the second goal, our findings reveal existence of a large regulatory network that connects eleven adherence regulators, the zinc-response regulator Zap1, and approximately one quarter of the predicted cell surface protein genes in this organism. This limited yet sensitive glimpse of mutant gene expression changes had thus defined one of the broadest cell surface regulatory networks in C. albicans

E-Democracy and the European Public Sphere

The chapter starts with an outline of outstanding recent contributions to the discussion of the EU democratic deficit and the so-called “no demos” problem and the debate about European citizenship and European identity—mainly in the light of insights from the EU crisis. This is followed by reflections on the recent discussion on the state of the mass media-based European public sphere. Finally, the author discusses the state of research on the Internet’s capacity to support the emergence of a (renewed) public sphere, with a focus on options for political actors to use the Internet for communication and campaigning, on the related establishment of segmented issue-related publics as well as on social media and its two-faced character as an enabler as well as a distorting factor of the public sphere. The author is sceptic about the capacities of Internet-based political communication to develop into a supranational (European) public sphere. It rather establishes a network of a multitude of discursive processes aimed at opinion formation at various levels and on various issues. The potential of online communication to increase the responsiveness of political institutions so far is set into practice insufficiently. Online media are increasingly used in a vertical and scarcely in a horizontal or interactive manner of communication

Observation of Two New Excited Ξb0 States Decaying to Λb0 K-π+

Two narrow resonant states are observed in the Λb0K-π+ mass spectrum using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb-1. The minimal quark content of the Λb0K-π+ system indicates that these are excited Ξb0 baryons. The masses of the Ξb(6327)0 and Ξb(6333)0 states are m[Ξb(6327)0]=6327.28-0.21+0.23±0.12±0.24 and m[Ξb(6333)0]=6332.69-0.18+0.17±0.03±0.22 MeV, respectively, with a mass splitting of Δm=5.41-0.27+0.26±0.12 MeV, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the Λb0 mass measurement. The measured natural widths of these states are consistent with zero, with upper limits of Γ[Ξb(6327)0]<2.20(2.56) and Γ[Ξb(6333)0]<1.60(1.92) MeV at a 90% (95%) credibility level. The significance of the two-peak hypothesis is larger than nine (five) Gaussian standard deviations compared to the no-peak (one-peak) hypothesis. The masses, widths, and resonant structure of the new states are in good agreement with the expectations for a doublet of 1D Ξb0 resonances

Measurement and interpretation of same-sign W boson pair production in association with two jets in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents the measurement of fducial and diferential cross sections for both the inclusive and electroweak production of a same-sign W-boson pair in association with two jets (W±W±jj) using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis is performed by selecting two same-charge leptons, electron or muon, and at least two jets with large invariant mass and a large rapidity diference. The measured fducial cross sections for electroweak and inclusive W±W±jj production are 2.92 ± 0.22 (stat.) ± 0.19 (syst.)fb and 3.38±0.22 (stat.)±0.19 (syst.)fb, respectively, in agreement with Standard Model predictions. The measurements are used to constrain anomalous quartic gauge couplings by extracting 95% confdence level intervals on dimension-8 operators. A search for doubly charged Higgs bosons H±± that are produced in vector-boson fusion processes and decay into a same-sign W boson pair is performed. The largest deviation from the Standard Model occurs for an H±± mass near 450 GeV, with a global signifcance of 2.5 standard deviations

Measurements of differential cross-sections in top-quark pair events with a high transverse momentum top quark and limits on beyond the Standard Model contributions to top-quark pair production with the ATLAS detector at √s = 13 TeV

Cross-section measurements of top-quark pair production where the hadronically decaying top quark has transverse momentum greater than 355 GeV and the other top quark decays into ℓνb are presented using 139 fb−1 of data collected by the ATLAS experiment during proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The fiducial cross-section at s = 13 TeV is measured to be σ = 1.267 ± 0.005 ± 0.053 pb, where the uncertainties reflect the limited number of data events and the systematic uncertainties, giving a total uncertainty of 4.2%. The cross-section is measured differentially as a function of variables characterising the tt¯ system and additional radiation in the events. The results are compared with various Monte Carlo generators, including comparisons where the generators are reweighted to match a parton-level calculation at next-to-next-to-leading order. The reweighting improves the agreement between data and theory. The measured distribution of the top-quark transverse momentum is used to search for new physics in the context of the effective field theory framework. No significant deviation from the Standard Model is observed and limits are set on the Wilson coefficients of the dimension-six operators OtG and Otq(8), where the limits on the latter are the most stringent to date. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Combination of searches for heavy spin-1 resonances using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A combination of searches for new heavy spin-1 resonances decaying into different pairings of W, Z, or Higgs bosons, as well as directly into leptons or quarks, is presented. The data sample used corresponds to 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at = 13 TeV collected during 2015–2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Analyses selecting quark pairs (qq, bb, , and tb) or third-generation leptons (τν and ττ) are included in this kind of combination for the first time. A simplified model predicting a spin-1 heavy vector-boson triplet is used. Cross-section limits are set at the 95% confidence level and are compared with predictions for the benchmark model. These limits are also expressed in terms of constraints on couplings of the heavy vector-boson triplet to quarks, leptons, and the Higgs boson. The complementarity of the various analyses increases the sensitivity to new physics, and the resulting constraints are stronger than those from any individual analysis considered. The data exclude a heavy vector-boson triplet with mass below 5.8 TeV in a weakly coupled scenario, below 4.4 TeV in a strongly coupled scenario, and up to 1.5 TeV in the case of production via vector-boson fusion

Determination of the parton distribution functions of the proton using diverse ATLAS data from pp collisions at √s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV

This paper presents an analysis at next-to-next-to-leading order in the theory of quantum chromodynamics for the determination of a new set of proton parton distribution functions using diverse measurements in pp collisions at \sqrt{s} = 7, 8 and 13 TeV, performed by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, together with deep inelastic scattering data from ep collisions at the HERA collider. The ATLAS data sets considered are differential cross-section measurements of inclusive W^{±} and Z/gamma^{*} boson production, W^{±} and Z boson production in association with jets, t\bar{t} production, inclusive jet production and direct photon production. In the analysis, particular attention is paid to the correlation of systematic uncertainties within and between the various ATLAS data sets and to the impact of model, theoretical and parameterisation uncertainties. The resulting set of parton distribution functions is called ATLASpdf21

Modelling and computational improvements to the simulation of single vector-boson plus jet processes for the ATLAS experiment

This paper presents updated Monte Carlo configurations used to model the production of single electroweak vector bosons (W, Z/gamma*) in association with jets in proton-proton collisions for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Improvements pertaining to the electroweak input scheme, parton-shower splitting kernels and scale-setting scheme are shown for multi-jet merged configurations accurate to next-to-leading order in the strong and electroweak couplings. The computational resources required for these set-ups are assessed, and approximations are introduced resulting in a factor three reduction of the per-event CPU time without affecting the physics modelling performance. Continuous statistical enhancement techniques are introduced by ATLAS in order to populate low cross-section regions of phase space and are shown to match or exceed the generated effective luminosity. This, together with the lower per-event CPU time, results in a 50% reduction in the required computing resources compared to a legacy set-up previously used by the ATLAS collaboration. The set-ups described in this paper will be used for future ATLAS analyses and lay the foundation for the next generation of Monte Carlo predictions for single vector-boson plus jets production