Predictive analysis of transmissible quinolone resistance indicates Stenotrophomonas maltophilia as a potential source of a novel family of Qnr determinants

Additional files: Microsoft excel document containing the descriptions of the genes shown in Figure 2.Background Predicting antibiotic resistance before it emerges at clinical settings constitutes a novel approach for preventing and fighting resistance of bacterial pathogens. To analyse the possibility that novel plasmid-encoded quinolone resistance determinants (Qnr) can emerge and disseminate among bacterial pathogens, we searched the presence of those elements in nearly 1000 bacterial genomes and metagenomes. Results We have found a number of novel potential qnr genes in the chromosomes of aquatic bacteria and in metagenomes from marine organisms. Functional studies of the Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Smqnr gene show that plasmid-encoded SmQnr confers quinolone resistance upon its expression in a heterologous host. Conclusion Altogether, the data presented in our work support the notion that predictive studies on antibiotic resistance are feasible, using currently available information on bacterial genomes and with the aid of bioinformatic and functional tools. Our results confirm that aquatic bacteria can be the origin of plasmid-encoded Qnr, and highlight the potential role of S. maltophilia as a source of novel Qnr determinants.This work has been supported by grants BIO2005-04278, LSHM-CT-2005-518152 and LSHM-CT-2005-018705. L. M-M and J.M. R.-M. are supported by REIPI, RD06/0008 from ISCIII, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Spain.Peer reviewe

The effect of radial inertia on flow localization in ductile rods subjected to dynamic extension

The objective of this work is to investigate the influence of radial inertia on the flow localization in ductile rods subjected to dynamic extension. Using the theory of a straight Cosserat rod which includes normal cross-sectional extension it is possible to obtain an exact solution for nonlinear uniform extension of a rigid-plastic material using a functional form of the yield stress that models the effect of the more general stress field in the necking region of the rod. Linear stability analysis of this exact nonlinear solution yields equations that generalize the formulation reported in Ref. [1] to include radial stretching and inertia. Examples show the quantitative effect of radial inertia on the stabilization of the localization process and on the determination of the expected length of fragments.This research was partially supported by MB Rubin's Gerard Swope Chair in Mechanics. J. A. Rodríguez-Martínez is indebted to the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España (Project DPI/2011-24068) for the financial support

Influence of unobservable overstress in a rate-independent inelastic loading curve on dynamic necking of a bar

Proceeding of: IUTAM Symposium on Dynamic Instabilities in Solids, May 17-20, 2016, Madrid, SpainA nonlinear rate-independent overstress model with a smooth elastic-inelastic transition is used to analyze instabilities during dynamic necking of a bar. In the simplified model the elastic strain epsilone determines the value of stress and the hardening parameter kappa determines the onset of inelasticity. These quantities {epsilone, kappa} are obtained by integrating time evolution equations. The main and perhaps surprising result of this paper is that, based on the critical growth rate omegacr of a perturbation, two rate-independent materials with a smooth elastic-plastic transition due to overstress and nearly the same loading curve (elastic strain or stress versus total strain) can have different susceptibilities to tensile instabilities. Specifically, increase in overstress causes decreased material instability near the onset of the smooth elastic-inelastic transition and increased instability when the elastic strain approaches its saturated value. To the authors' knowledge, this new insight has not been reported in the literature.JARM is indebted to the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España (Projects EUIN2015-62556 and DPI2014-57989-P) for the financial support which permitted to conduct part of this work. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 Programme (Excellent Science, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions) under REA grant agreement 675602 (Project OUTCOME). This research was also partially supported by MB Rubin’s Gerard Swope Chair in Mechanics

Towards a better understanding of time-lags in karst aquifers by combining hydrological analysis tools and dye tracer tests. Application to a binary karst aquifer in southern Spain

The assessment of the response time of a karst aquifer is an important step towards the development of conceptual models from which tools for water resources planning and management could be applied. The aim of this work is to evaluate the applicability of the joint use of statistical time-lag evaluation and dye tracer tests techniques with a double objective: 1) the development of conceptual models on the hydrogeological functioning that include the duality in the aquifer recharge processes, as well as the particularities of the preferential drainage flowpaths respect to the global response of the aquifers; 2) to establish a reference frame to foresee with enough time in anticipation the potential affections derived from the concentrated recharge to the springs, required in the creation of water quality monitoring networks and early warning systems to water pollution. In the Ubrique karst aquifer (southern Spain), the empirical relationships between the intensity (I) of rainfall events (recharge) and the time-lag (T) observed in the springs that draining the aquifer have been quantified. The establishment of the curve (I-T) constitutes a reliable tool for the prediction of potential affections to the springs (intended for urban supply) derived from recharge events. On the other hand, the comparison of the values drawn in the I-T curve, characteristic of each spring, with those derived from three tracer tests, has allowed further advances in the understanding of the aquifer functioning and the influence of concentrated recharge on the global system behavior to be achieved.This research was supported by the European Project “Karst Aquifer Resources availability and quality in the Mediterranean Area (KARMA)” PRIMA, ANR-18-PRIM-0005. The associated project PCI2019-103675 was funded by the Spanish Research Agency through the scientific program “Programación Conjunta Internacional”. Additionally, it contributes to the project PID2019-111759RB-I00 supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100 011033) of the Spanish Government. Funding for open access charge: University of Malaga / CBU

Mastitis bovina de orígen micótico: descripción de un caso.

El estudio se realizó en una hacienda ubicada en un municipio de Cundinamarca a una altitud de 340 metros y una temperatura promedio de 26 grados centígrados, con 185 animales de la raza Pardo Suizo y mestizo (Pardo Suizo x Cebú) de los cuales 105 estaban en producción de leche y los demás estaban en el horro o en proceso de cría y levante. Se practicó una visita a la finca para evaluar y diagnosticar un brote de mastitis que afectaba a 63 animales del hato en forma clínica aguda. Se realizó un chequeo general con la prueba de mastitis california (MC) en todos los animales del hato dando un resultado positivo en 148 cuartos de 68 vacas. Se procedió a tratar a los animales afectados con productos antibacterianos pero con resultados negativos. Posteriormente se tomaron muestras de secreciones de los cuartos afectados que se cultivaron en agar sangre al 5 por ciento con incubación a 37 grados centígrados por 72 horas, agar sabouraud incubado a 28 grados centígrados por 4 días y agar MacConkey a 37 grados centígrados por 72 horas. Los resultados microbiológicos e histopatológicos definen el diagnóstico de mastitis micótica. Establecido el carácter micótico de la enfermedad, se suspendió todo producto antibacteriano y se inició una terapia para atacar al hongo. Una vez terminado el tratamiento se hizo notoria la recuperación clínica y productiva en 50 animales. Los 13 restantes desarrollaron un estado de fibrosis de la glándula mamaria que obligó a su eliminación Para buscar el origen de la infección se examinó el antibiótico y las sondas plásticas empleadas en el tratamiento. Descartada la fuente de contaminación en el antibiótico y en las sondas la misma se puede atribuír al agua utilizada durante los tratamientos como diluyenteGanado de leche-Ganadería lech

Light-front wave functions of vector mesons in an algebraic model

Inspired by the recent development of an algebraic model which provides an adequate and unified description of the internal structure of the lowest-lying pseudoscalar mesons, belonging both to the light quarks sector and to the one of heavy quarks, we perform its first extension to the vector-meson case. The algebraic model describes the meson’s structure in terms of the spectral density function that appears in a Nakanishi integral representation of the covariant quark-antiquark bound-state amplitude, i.e., the Bethe- Salpeter amplitude. We compute the leading-twist light-front wave functions of the ρð770Þ, ϕð1020Þ, J=ψ, and ϒð1SÞ mesons through their connection with the parton distribution amplitudes. Among the results we present, the following are of particular interest: (i) transverse light-front wave functions can be obtained algebraically from the corresponding parton distribution amplitudes, whereas that is not the case for longitudinal light-front wave functions, which requires an intermediate step where a spectral density function must be derived from the particular parton distribution amplitude; (ii) the derived spectral density functions show marked differences between light and heavy vector mesons, the latter being narrower as compared to the former, and these are also nonpositive definite, although the integral over the entire curve is larger than zero as expected; and (iii) the longitudinal and transverse light-front wave functions of vector mesons with light quark content exhibit steep x and p2 ⊥ dependence, while those of the J=ψ and ϒð1SÞ mesons are characterized by narrow distributions in the x range but, comparatively, much more gradual falloffs with respect to the p2 ⊥ range depicted.B. Almeida Zamora acknowledges CONACyT (Grant No. CVU 935777) for the Phd fellowship. J. J. Cobos-Martínez acknowledges financial support from the University of Sonora under Grant No. USO315007861. A. Bashir acknowledges Coordinación de la Investigación Científica of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo Grant No. 4.10., the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC05-6OR23177, and the Fulbright-García Robles Scholarship. This work has also been partially funded by Ministerio Español de Ciencia e Innovación under Grant No. PID2019–107844 GB-C22 and Junta de Andalucía under Contracts No. Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 UHU-1264517, No. P18- FR-5057, and also No. PAIDI FQM-370

Barley-ß-glucans reduce systemic inflammation, renal injury and aortic calcification through ADAM17 and neutral-sphingomyelinase2 inhibition

In chronic kidney disease (CKD), hyperphosphatemia-induced inflammation aggravates vascular calcification (VC) by increasing vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) osteogenic differentiation, ADAM17-induced renal and vascular injury, and TNFα-induction of neutral-sphingomyelinase2 (nSMase2) to release pro-calcifying exosomes. This study examined anti-inflammatory β-glucans efficacy at attenuating systemic inflammation in health, and renal and vascular injury favoring VC in hyperphosphatemic CKD. In healthy adults, dietary barley β-glucans (Bβglucans) reduced leukocyte superoxide production, inflammatory ADAM17, TNFα, nSMase2, and pro-aging/pro-inflammatory STING (Stimulator of interferon genes) gene expression without decreasing circulating inflammatory cytokines, except for γ-interferon. In hyperphosphatemic rat CKD, dietary Bβglucans reduced renal and aortic ADAM17-driven inflammation attenuating CKD-progression (higher GFR and lower serum creatinine, proteinuria, kidney inflammatory infiltration and nSMase2), and TNFα-driven increases in aortic nSMase2 and calcium deposition without improving mineral homeostasis. In VSMC, Bβglucans prevented LPS- or uremic serum-induced rapid increases in ADAM17, TNFα and nSMase2, and reduced the 13-fold higher calcium deposition induced by prolonged calcifying conditions by inhibiting osteogenic differentiation and increases in nSMase2 through Dectin1-independent actions involving Bβglucans internalization. Thus, dietary Bβglucans inhibit leukocyte superoxide production and leukocyte, renal and aortic ADAM17- and nSMase2 gene expression attenuating systemic inflammation in health, and renal injury and aortic calcification despite hyperphosphatemia in CKD.A grant to A.S.D. and M.J.M. from IRBLleida and Agrotecnio Research collaborative projects from the Consell Social at Lleida University supported initial work, Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by European Union (ERDF/FEDER) (FIS PI11/00259, PI14/01452, PI17/02181), Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación 2013–2017 y 2018–2022 del Principado de Asturias (GRUPIN14-028, IDI-2018-000152), RedInRen from ISCIII (ISCIII-RETIC REDINREN RD16/0009). Investigator support included: NC-L by GRUPIN14-028 and IDI-2018-000152, LM-A by GRUPIN14-028, SP by FICYT; MVA and PV by Educational Grant 2 A/2015 from ERA-EDTA CKD-MBD Working Group; PV and AC by ERA-EDTA fellowships 2011 and 2012; JR-C by MINECO (“Juan de la Cierva” program, FJCI-2015-23849); A.S.D. by Asociación Investigación de Fisiología Aplicada. A.S.D. and M.J.M. are members of the Campus Iberus (Ebro Valley Campus of International Excellence)

Etiopathology of chronic tubular, glomerular and renovascular nephropathies: Clinical implications

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) comprises a group of pathologies in which the renal excretory function is chronically compromised. Most, but not all, forms of CKD are progressive and irreversible, pathological syndromes that start silently (i.e. no functional alterations are evident), continue through renal dysfunction and ends up in renal failure. At this point, kidney transplant or dialysis (renal replacement therapy, RRT) becomes necessary to prevent death derived from the inability of the kidneys to cleanse the blood and achieve hydroelectrolytic balance. Worldwide, nearly 1.5 million people need RRT, and the incidence of CKD has increased significantly over the last decades. Diabetes and hypertension are among the leading causes of end stage renal disease, although autoimmunity, renal atherosclerosis, certain infections, drugs and toxins, obstruction of the urinary tract, genetic alterations, and other insults may initiate the disease by damaging the glomerular, tubular, vascular or interstitial compartments of the kidneys. In all cases, CKD eventually compromises all these structures and gives rise to a similar phenotype regardless of etiology. This review describes with an integrative approach the pathophysiological process of tubulointerstitial, glomerular and renovascular diseases, and makes emphasis on the key cellular and molecular events involved. It further analyses the key mechanisms leading to a merging phenotype and pathophysiological scenario as etiologically distinct diseases progress. Finally clinical implications and future experimental and therapeutic perspectives are discussed

An approach for identifyation of areas with higher expected damage and definition of priority levels for prevention plans in Murcia Province (SE Spain)

The Murcia Region is one of the most active zones in Spain, where three earthquakes took place in 1999, 2002 and 2005. In spite of their low magnitudes (Mw 4.8), these earthquakes caused important damage, the last one reaching an EMS-98 intensity of VII. After that event, the RISMUR project started, aimed at providing a general picture of the seismic risk, which allows us to identify zones requiring a more detailed analysis of where prevention plans should be prioritized. A multidisciplinary study, starting with the seismic hazard assessment, which follows the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment methodology has been carried out at a regional scale. The expected ground motion (rock sites), for a return period of 475 years, has been characterized in terms of PGA and spectral ordinates and the corresponding maps have been drawn. In addition, a regional geotechnical study has been done and a classification of eight types of soils has been proposed, with the corresponding amplification factors. The combination of previous maps and factors, gives a new hazard map which already includes local effects. In parallel, a vulnerability assessment of the Murcian building stock is carried out, based fundamentally on the age of construction and following the EMS-98 criteria. Taking into account the expected ground motions and building vulnerabilities, the distribution of expected damage is estimated by the application of probability damage matrixes. A suite of maps representing seismic risk in terms of damage parameters for the entire region and from which we can identify the locations with higher expected damage have been obtained. We use the Coulomb stress transfer map of the region as additional criteria for defining priority areas where detailed studies should be performed. This gives information about the zones with stress load due to the previous seismicity and where new events could be triggered. The superposition of this map with the active faults of the region and the locations with higher expected damage allows us to establish a four-level priority ranking where future local-scale analyses should be made

Seasonal and Sexual Differences in the Microbiota of the Hoopoe Uropygial Secretion

The uropygial gland of hoopoe nestlings and nesting females hosts bacterial symbionts that cause changes in the characteristics of its secretion, including an increase of its antimicrobial activity. These changes occur only in nesting individuals during the breeding season, possibly associated with the high infection risk experienced during the stay in the hole-nests. However, the knowledge on hoopoes uropygial gland microbial community dynamics is quite limited and based so far on culture-dependent and molecular fingerprinting studies. In this work, we sampled wild and captive hoopoes of different sex, age, and reproductive status, and studied their microbiota using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and pyrosequencing. Surprisingly, we found a complex bacterial community in all individuals (including non-nesting ones) during the breeding season. Nevertheless, dark secretions from nesting hoopoes harbored significantly higher bacterial density than white secretions from breeding males and both sexes in winter. We hypothesize that bacterial proliferation may be host-regulated in phases of high infection risk (i.e., nesting). We also highlight the importance of specific antimicrobial-producing bacteria present only in dark secretions that may be key in this defensive symbiosis. Finally, we discuss the possible role of environmental conditions in shaping the uropygial microbiota, based on differences found between wild and captive hoopoes.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and European (FEDER) funds (CGL2013-48193-C3-1-P/BOS, CGL2013-48193-C3-2-P/BOS, CGL2017-83103-P), and the Junta de Andalucía (RNM 339, RNM 340). S. M. Rodríguez-Ruano received a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FPI program)