Antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli isolated from freshwaters and hospital effluents in Belgium

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the level of antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli isolates in freshwaters and hospital effluents in Belgium. The samples were collected from 24 locations along the Ourthe, Vesdre, Ambl eve and Meuse rivers and in the wastewater effluents of several hospitals. The sampling stations in rivers were classified according to the dominant land covers of the rivers (rural, urban and forest areas). Two sampling campaigns were organized in May and October 2019 to highlight a possible seasonal effect. A total of 938 E. coli strains were isolated on Chromogenic Selective Tryptone Bile X-glucuronide (TBX) and TBX supplemented with amoxicillin (TBX+AMX) media. Disk diffusion assays were performed following the EUCAST’s recommendations to assess the antimicrobial resistance against 12 antibiotics. A total of 32 7% of strains were at least resistant to one antibiotic and 24 6% were multiple antimicrobial resistant strains on TBX. The highest resistance rates were found for ampicillin (AMP), amoxicillin coupled with clavulanic acid (AMC) and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (SXT). The lowest resistance rates were observed for meropenem (MEM) and ertapenem (ETP), which are last resort antibiotics. No significant difference was observed between both campaigns for the resistance rate to antibiotics

Fatty acid uptake in normal human myocardium

Fatty acid binding protein has been found in rat aortic endothelial cell membrane. It has been identified to be a 40-kDa protein that corresponds to a 40-kDa fatty acid binding protein with high affinity for a variety of long chain fatty acids isolated from rat heart myocytes. It is proposed that this endothelial membrane fatty acid binding protein might mediate the myocardial uptake of fatty acids. For evaluation of this hypothesis in vivo, influx kinetics of tracer-labeled fatty acids was examined in 15 normal subjects by scintigraphic techniques. Variation of the plasma fatty acid concentration and plasma perfusion rate has been achieved by modulation of nutrition state and exercise conditions. The clinical results suggest that the myocardial fatty acid influx rate is saturable by increasing fatty acid plasma concentration as well as by increasing plasma flow. For analysis of these data, functional relations describing fatty acid transport from plasma into myocardial tissue in the presence and absence of an "unstirred layer" were developed. The fitting of these relations to experimental data indicate that the free fatty acid influx into myocardial tissue reveals the criteria of a reaction on a capillary surface in the vicinity of flowing plasma but not of a reaction in extravascular space or in an unstirred layer and that the fatty acid influx into normal myocardium is a saturable process that is characterized by the quantity corresponding to the Michaelis-Menten constant, Km, and the maximal velocity, Vmax, 0.24 +/- 0.024 mumol/g and 0.37 +/- 0.013 mumol/g(g.min), respectively. These data are compatible with a nondiffusional uptake process mediated by the initial interaction of fatty acids with the 40-kDa membrane fatty acid binding protein of cardiac endothelial cells