Prevention and control of antimicrobial resistant healthcare-associated infections: The microbiology laboratory rocks!

In Europe, each year, more than four milion patients acquire a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) and almost 40 thousand die as a direct consequence of it. Regardless of many stategies to prevent and control HAIs, they remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide with a significant economic impact: a recent estimate places it at the ten billion dollars/year. The control of HAIs requires a prompt and efficient identification of the etiological agent and a rapid communication with the clinician. The Microbiology Laboratory has a significant role in the prevention and control of these infections and is a key element of any Infection Control Program. The work of the Microbiology Laboratory covers microbial isolation and identification, determination of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, epidemiological surveillance and outbreak detection, education, and report of quality assured results. In this paper we address the role and importance of the Microbiology Laboratory in the prevention and control of HAI and in Antibiotic Stewardship Programs and how it can be leveraged when combined with the use of information systems. Additionally, we critically review some challenges that the Microbiology Laboratory has to deal with, including the selection of analytic methods and the proper use of communication channels with other healthcare services.publishersversionpublishe

Potencial enzimático e toxigênico de fungos isolados de grãos de café

The presence of some species of filamentous fungi in coffee beans may indicate reduced quality and risks of mycotoxins. Moreover, other species may be bioprotective of the bean integrity, indicators of environmental changes and informative. The objective of this study was to evaluate the enzymatic activity and toxigenic potential of filamentous fungi isolated from 12 samples of coffee beans (11 samples of Coffea arabica and 1 sample of Coffea canephora). 182 fungi were isolated and identified belonging to two genera: Aspergillus and Penicillium. Of the 138 fungi from the genus Aspergillus belonging to the Section Nigri and Section Circumdati tested, 28.3 % were producers of ochratoxin A, particularly for the species A. ochraceus and A. ostianus. Of the 14 isolates of Aspergillus flavus tested, 78.6 % were producers of aflatoxin B1 and B2. Aspergillus versicolor , Cladosporium cladosporioides , Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium sp . showed an enzymatic index greater than 2 (IE> 2) for polygalacturonase and Penicillium funiculosum, Penicillium and Aspergillus sclerotiorum aurantiogriseum showed pectate lyase activity above 2 ( IE> 2). The isolates of Penicillium brevicompactum showed potential pectinolitica for the two enzymes tested. These results demonstrate that coffee beans can be an important source of fungi with biotechnological potential and potentially toxigenic fungi have limited enzyme capacity of degrading pectin -rich substrates such as mucilage and produce mycotoxins.A presença de algumas espécies de fungos filamentosos em grãos de café pode indicar redução da qualidade e riscos de micotoxinas. Por outro lado, outras espécies podem ser bioprotetoras da integridade dos grãos, indicadores de alterações ambientais e indicativo. Objetivou-se, neste estudo, avaliar a atividade enzimática e o potencial toxigênico de fungos filamentosos isolados de 12 amostras de grãos de café (11 amostras de Coffea arabica e uma amostra de Coffea canephora).Foram isolados e identificados 182 fungos pertencentes a dois gêneros: Aspergillus e Penicillium. Dos 138 fungos do gênero Aspergillus pertencentes à Seção Circumdati e Seção Nigri testados, 28,3% foram produtores de ocratoxina A, com destaque para as espécies A. ochraceus e A. ostianus. Dos 14 isolados de A. flavus testados, 78,6% foram produtores de aflatoxina B1 eB2. A. versicolor, Cladosporium cladosporioides, P. roqueforti e Penicillium sp. apresentaram índice enzimático superior a 2(IE > 2) para poligalacturonase e P. funiculosum, P. aurantiogriseum e Aspergillus sclerotiorum apresentaram atividade pectato liase acima de 2 (IE > 2). Os isolados de P. brevicompactum apresentaram potencial pectinolítico para as duas enzimas testadas.Esses resultados demonstram que os grãos de café podem ser importante fonte de fungos com potencial biotecnológico e que os fungos potencialmente toxigênicos apresentam limitada capacidade enzimática de degradar substratos ricos em pectina como a mucilagem e produzir micotoxinas

Electrochemical sensing of ecstasy with electropolymerized molecularly imprinted poly(o-phenylenediamine) polymer on the surface of disposable screen-printed carbon electrodes

This study demonstrates the ability of an electrochemical sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to selectively quantify 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as ecstasy, in biological samples. The device was constructed using ortho-phenylenediamine (o-PD) as the MIP’s building monomer at the surface of a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE). The step-by-step construction of the SPCE-MIP sensor was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and modelling were performed not only to understand template-monomer interaction but also to comprehend which possible polymer structure - linear or ramified poly(o-PD) – indeed interacts with the analyte. The prepared sensor worked by directly measuring the MDMA oxidation signal through square-wave voltammetry (SWV) after an incubation period of 10 min. Several parameters were optimized, such as the monomer/template ratio, the number of electropolymerization scanning cycles, and the incubation period, to obtain the best sensing efficiency. Optimized sensors exhibited suitable selectivity, repeatability (2.6%), reproducibility (7.7%) and up to one month of stable response. A linear range up to 0.2 mmol L−1 was found with an r2 of 0.9990 and a limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of 0.79 and 2.6 μmol L−1 (0.15 and 0.51 μg mL−1), respectively. The proposed sensor was successfully applied to human blood serum and urine samples, showing its potential for application in medicine and in forensic sciences.This work received financial support from FCT/MCTES through national funds and was co-financed by FEDER, under Partnership Agreement PT2020-UID/QUI/50006/2013-POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265. RASC wishes to acknowledge FCT for her PhD fellowship (PD/BD/127797/2016) from the PhD Programme in Medicines and Pharmaceutical Innovation (i3DU). AACB (grants 2014/25770-6 and 2015/01491-3) and LMG (grant 2018/14425-7) thank the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for financial support. AACB (grant 309715/2017-2) also thanks the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) for financial support and fellowships. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Health-related quality of life in pulmonary hypertension and its clinical correlates: a cross-sectional study

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) impairment is common in pulmonary hypertension (PH), but its clinical predictors are not well established. This study aims to characterize the HRQoL of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and other precapillary forms of PH (pcPH) and to explore its clinical correlates. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study of patients with documented PAH and other forms of pcPH. Patients completed two patient-reported outcome measures (PROM): Cambridge Pulmonary Hypertension Outcome Review (CAMPHOR) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP). Clinical characteristics were retrieved from electronic medical records. Results: Mean CAMPHOR and NHP scores for the study population were indicative of a moderate HRQoL impairment. Patients in World Health Organisation Functional Classes (WHO FC) III/IV showed significantly worse HRQoL. The main clinical correlates of HRQoL were WHO FC, 6-minute walking distance (6MWD), and Borg dyspnoea index. Overall quality of life (QoL), assessed through CAMPHOR's QoL domain, showed patterns comparable to HRQoL measured by both instruments. Conclusions: HRQoL, measured by two different PROMs, is impaired in Portuguese patients with PAH and other forms of pcPH, particularly in patients with increased disease severity. WHO FC, 6MWD, and Borg dyspnoea index are highly correlated with HRQoL and QoL.Actelion Pharmaceuticals Portugalpublishe

Terminação a pasto de novilhas de corte sob efeito de imunocastração / Pasture finishing of beef heifers under the effect of immunocastration

Objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho produtivo e a viabilidade econômica de novilhas imunocastradas terminadas a pasto. O experimento foi conduzido na Fazenda Conquista, município de São Gabriel do Oeste - MS. Foram utilizadas 40 novilhas Nelore, divididas em dois grupos de condições sexuais (imunocastradas e não castradas) de 20 animais cada, sendo um grupo condicionado à imunocastração  (Bopriva®) com peso médio 343,90±26,28 e grupo controle (não castradas) com peso médio 344,71±18,78. Os animais foram alojados em um piquete com áreas de 45 ha-1, em sistema de pastejo continuo, com capim Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu, com fornecimento de água e suplemento mineral ad libitum. As avaliações de desempenho produtivo no período experimental totalizaram 186 dias, onde demonstrou que não houve diferença estatística entre os grupos para as variáveis avaliadas (P>0,05). O ganho de peso das novilhas não foi influenciado pela condição sexual, onde os grupos de novilhas imunocastradas e controle apresentaram ganhos médios de 52,99 Kg durante o período experimental. Observou-se uma redução da margem bruta em R$18,64 para as novilhas imunocastradas. Afetando a margem liquida com uma diminuição de 10,5$ 348,97). Corroborando para não recomendação da utilização da imunocastração de novilhas em sistema de terminação a pasto

A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area

Brazilian protected areas are essential for plant conservation in the Atlantic Forest domain, one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. A major challenge for improving conservation actions is to know the plant richness, protected by these areas. Online databases offer an accessible way to build plant species lists and to provide relevant information about biodiversity. A list of land plants of “Parque Nacional do Caparaó” (PNC) was previously built using online databases and published on the website "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil." Here, we provide and discuss additional information about plant species richness, endemism and conservation in the PNC that could not be included in the List. We documented 1,791 species of land plants as occurring in PNC, of which 63 are cited as threatened (CR, EN or VU) by the Brazilian National Red List, seven as data deficient (DD) and five as priorities for conservation. Fifity-one species were possible new ocurrences for ES and MG states

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio