Differential DNA accessibility to polymerase enables 30-minute phenotypic β-lactam antibiotic susceptibility testing of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae

The rise in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections has created a global health emergency, underlining the critical need to develop faster diagnostics to treat swiftly and correctly. Although rapid pathogen-identification (ID) tests are being developed, gold-standard antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) remains unacceptably slow (1–2 d), and innovative approaches for rapid phenotypic ASTs for CREs are urgently needed. Motivated by this need, in this manuscript we tested the hypothesis that upon treatment with β-lactam antibiotics, susceptible Enterobacteriaceae isolates would become sufficiently permeabilized, making some of their DNA accessible to added polymerase and primers. Further, we hypothesized that this accessible DNA would be detectable directly by isothermal amplification methods that do not fully lyse bacterial cells. We build on these results to develop the polymerase-accessibility AST (pol-aAST), a new phenotypic approach for β-lactams, the major antibiotic class for gram-negative infections. We test isolates of the 3 causative pathogens of CRE infections using ceftriaxone (CRO), ertapenem (ETP), and meropenem (MEM) and demonstrate agreement with gold-standard AST. Importantly, pol-aAST correctly categorized resistant isolates that are undetectable by current genotypic methods (negative for β-lactamase genes or lacking predictive genotypes). We also test contrived and clinical urine samples. We show that the pol-aAST can be performed in 30 min sample-to-answer using contrived urine samples and has the potential to be performed directly on clinical urine specimens

Professional Social Media Usage and Work Engagement Among Professionals in Finland Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic : Four-Wave Follow-Up Study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed work life profoundly and concerns regarding the mental well-being of employees' have arisen. Organizations have made rapid digital advancements and have started to use new collaborative tools such as social media platforms overnight. Objective: Our study aimed to investigate how professional social media communication has affected work engagement before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of perceived social support, task resources, and psychological distress as predictors and moderators of work engagement. Methods: Nationally representative longitudinal survey data were collected in 2019-2020, and 965 respondents participated in all 4 surveys. Measures included work engagement, perceived social support and task resources, and psychological distress. The data were analyzed using a hybrid linear regression model. Results: Work engagement remained stable and only decreased in autumn 2020. Within-person changes in social media communication at work, social support, task resources, and psychological distress were all associated with work engagement. The negative association between psychological distress and work engagement was stronger in autumn 2020 than before the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted pressure on mental health at work. Fostering social support and task resources at work is important in maintaining work engagement. Social media communication could help maintain a supportive work environment.Peer reviewe

Differential DNA accessibility to polymerase enables 30-minute phenotypic β-lactam antibiotic susceptibility testing of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae

The rise in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections has created a global health emergency, underlining the critical need to develop faster diagnostics to treat swiftly and correctly. Although rapid pathogen-identification (ID) tests are being developed, gold-standard antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) remains unacceptably slow (1–2 d), and innovative approaches for rapid phenotypic ASTs for CREs are urgently needed. Motivated by this need, in this manuscript we tested the hypothesis that upon treatment with β-lactam antibiotics, susceptible Enterobacteriaceae isolates would become sufficiently permeabilized, making some of their DNA accessible to added polymerase and primers. Further, we hypothesized that this accessible DNA would be detectable directly by isothermal amplification methods that do not fully lyse bacterial cells. We build on these results to develop the polymerase-accessibility AST (pol-aAST), a new phenotypic approach for β-lactams, the major antibiotic class for gram-negative infections. We test isolates of the 3 causative pathogens of CRE infections using ceftriaxone (CRO), ertapenem (ETP), and meropenem (MEM) and demonstrate agreement with gold-standard AST. Importantly, pol-aAST correctly categorized resistant isolates that are undetectable by current genotypic methods (negative for β-lactamase genes or lacking predictive genotypes). We also test contrived and clinical urine samples. We show that the pol-aAST can be performed in 30 min sample-to-answer using contrived urine samples and has the potential to be performed directly on clinical urine specimens

Dietary heavy metal exposure of Finnish 1-year-olds

The exposure of Finnish 1-year-olds to cadmium, lead and inorganic arsenic via food and drinking water was determined. The food consumption data consisted of 3-day records from 1010 children aged 12 months, collected during 2002 to 2005 in Southwest Finland. One fifth of these children were still breastfed when the consumption data were collected and their exposure was assessed separately from the non-breastfed children. The heavy metal concentration data in foodstuffs were mainly analysis results from national authorities and they were mostly from the years 2005 to 2012. Dietary exposure assessment was performed probabilistically using the online program MCRA. With middle bound estimates, 89% of the non-breastfed and 56% of the breastfed children exceeded the tolerable weekly intake of cadmium. The benchmark dose (BMDL01) for neurological damage caused by lead was exceeded by 60% of the non-breastfed and by 50% of the breastfed children, while the lowest BMDL01 for cancer risk increase caused by inorganic arsenic was exceeded by 77% of the non-breastfed and by 61% of the breastfed children. The assessment did not include the unknown heavy metal exposure from breast milk. Heavy metal exposure differences between the boys and the girls were also assessed. Breastfed girls had significantly higher heavy metal exposure relative to their bodyweight than the breastfed boys, while in the non-breastfed group there were no differences by sex

Assessment of Common Cyanotoxins in Cyanobacteria of Biological Loess Crusts

Cyanotoxins are a diverse group of bioactive compounds produced by cyanobacteria that have adverse effects on human and animal health. While the phenomenon of cyanotoxin production in aquatic environments is well studied, research on cyanotoxins in terrestrial environments, where cyanobacteria abundantly occur in biocrusts, is still in its infancy. Here, we investigated the potential cyanotoxin production in cyanobacteria-dominated biological loess crusts (BLCs) from three different regions (China, Iran, and Serbia) and in cyanobacterial cultures isolated from the BLCs. The presence of cyanotoxins microcystins, cylindrospermopsin, saxitoxins, and beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine was analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method, while the presence of cyanotoxin-encoding genes (mcyE, cyrJ, sxtA, sxtG, sxtS, and anaC) was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. We could not detect any of the targeted cyanotoxins in the biocrusts or the cyanobacterial cultures, nor could we amplify any cyanotoxin-encoding genes in the cyanobacterial strains. The results are discussed in terms of the biological role of cyanotoxins, the application of cyanobacteria in land restoration programs, and the use of cyanotoxins as biosignatures of cyanobacterial populations in loess research. The article highlights the need to extend the field of research on cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin production to terrestrial environments

Service Robots in the Hospitality Industry: An Exploratory Literature Review

The service sector is changing drastically due the use of robotics and other technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), Big Data and Biometrics. Consequently, further research opportunities in the service industry domain are also expected. In light of the above, the purpose of this paper is to explore the potentialities and limitations of service robots in the hospitality industry. To this end, this paper uses a conceptual approach based on a literature review. As a result, we found that in contexts of high customer contact, service robots should be considered to perform standardized tasks due to social/emotional and cognitive/analytical complexity. The hospitality industry is therefore considered closely related to empathic intelligence, as the integration of service robots has not yet reached the desired stage of service delivery. In a seemingly far-fetched context of our reality, organizations will have to decide whether the AI will allow the complete replacement of humans with robots capable of performing the necessary cognitive and emotional tasks. Or investing in balanced capacities by integrating robot-human systems that seems a reasonable option these days.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Typpitaselaskurin käyttöohje

Typpitaselaskuri on tarkoitettu työkaluksi, jolla viljelijät ja neuvojat voivat laskea ja tulkita peltolohkojen typpitaseita sekä soveltaa tietoa viljelyn kehittämiseksi ympäristöä ja taloudellista tulosta silmällä pitäen. Peltolohkon typpitase eli lannoitteissa annetun ja sadon mukana poistuneen typen erotus vaihtelee riippuen mm. viljelykasvista, typpilannoituksen määrästä, maaperän laadusta ja kasvukauden säästä. Korkeaan ja ympäristön kannalta haitallisen suureen typpitaseeseen voidaan päätyä sekä liian suuren typpilannoituksen että heikoksi jääneen satotason vuoksi. Tämän vuoksi on tärkeää ymmärtää, mitä erisuuruiset typpitaseet merkitsevät erityyppisissä olosuhteissa ympäristön tai viljelyn onnistumisen kannalta. Typpitaselaskuri kehitettiin, jotta typpitaseita voitaisiin vertailla aiempaa paremmin ja taseisiin sisältyvää informaatiota päästäisiin hyödyntämään peltoviljelyssä. Typpitaselaskurilla saa laskettua peltolohkojen typpitaseet ja laskuri antaa niille tulkinnan. Laskuri toimii seuraavilla viljelykasveilla: kaura, ohra, kevätvehnä, syysvehnä, syysruis, tärkkelysperuna, sokerijuurikas, kevätrypsi ja säilörehunurmi. Typpitaseiden tulkintaan sisältyy 1) tieto siitä, miten suuri typpitase on suhteessa viiteryhmäänsä, ts. samanlaisissa oloissa samalla kasvilajilla toteutuneisiin taseisiin, 2) arvio taseen aiheuttamasta ympäristöriskistä ja 3) ehdotuksia typpitaseesta aiheutuvan ympäristöriskin pienentämiseksi. Toimenpide-ehdotukset on sovitettu kuhunkin tilanteeseen ja niissä on huomioitu sekä typpitaseesta aiheutuva ympäristöriski että vertailu viiteryhmään. Typpitaselaskurin avulla voi myös suunnitella kevätviljoille (kaura, kevätvehnä, ohra) taloudellisesti optimaalista typpilannoitusta kivennäismailla. Laskuri huomioi optimoinnissa peltolohkon satotason ilman typpilannoitusta ja antaa siitä tarvittaessa arvion viljelijän syöttämien tietojen avulla. Viljelijä voi myös antaa laskuriin edeltävän viljelyn (esikasvi, lannan käyttö, typpitase) tuoman typpilisän, joka vaikuttaa peltolohkon typpilannoitustarpeeseen. Optimoinnissa huomioidaan pellon aikaisempi satotaso ja käytetty lannoitus, lasketaan taloudellisesti optimaalinen typpilannoitus ja sitä vastaava typpitase sekä ilmoitetaan sadon valkuaispitoisuus. Taloudellisesti optimaalisella typpilannoituksella peltolohkolla viljeltävälle kasville saadaan suurin mahdollinen hehtaarituotto eli kasvin myyntituottojen ja lannoituskustannusten erotus. Laskurin toiminta ja sen tekemät tulkinnat perustuvat laajaan tietovarantoon suomalaisilla peltolohkoilla vuosina 1988–2018 toteutuneista typpitaseista, typpilannoituskokeissa havaittuihin typpilannoitusvasteisiin ja viljelijöiden pelloilta vuosina 2016−2019 mitattuihin lannoittamattomien alueiden satotasoihin. Laskuri on vapaasti käytettävissä Luonnonvarakeskuksen Maatalousinfo-verkkopalvelun kautta.202

A systematic review of attitudes, anxiety, acceptance, and trust towards social robots

As social robots become more common, there is a need to understand how people perceive and interact with such technology. This systematic review seeks to estimate people’s attitudes toward, trust in, anxiety associated with, and acceptance of social robots; as well as factors that are associated with these beliefs. Ninety-seven studies were identified with a combined sample of over 13,000 participants and a standardized score was computed for each in order to represent the valence (positive, negative, or neutral) and magnitude (on a scale from 1 to − 1) of people’s beliefs about robots. Potential moderating factors such as the robots’ domain of application and design, the type of exposure to the robot, and the characteristics of potential users were also investigated. The findings suggest that people generally have positive attitudes towards social robots and are willing to interact with them. This finding may challenge some of the existing doubt surrounding the adoption of robotics in social domains of application but more research is needed to fully understand the factors that influence attitudes