The Great pretender: the first case of septic shock due to Capnocytophaga canimorsus in Sardinia. A Case report and review of the literature

Capnocytophaga canimorsus (C. canimorsus) is an emerging pathogen in critical care. C. canimorsus is a Gram-negative bacillus, commonly isolated as a commensal microorganism of the oral flora of healthy dogs and cats. A 63-year-old woman came to the emergency department with fever, chills, and malaise 2 days after a minor dog bite. After admission to the medicine ward, she developed respiratory failure and livedo reticularis. In the intensive care unit (ICU), she presented full-blown septic shock with thrombocytopenia, coagulopathy, severe acute kidney injury, and liver injury. We describe the first case of septic shock with Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome related to Capnocytophaga canimorsus infection in Sardinia and its treatment in a tertiary hospital ICU. We also review recent literature on the relevance of C. canimorsus in human disease and critical illness

Non-random retention of protein-coding overlapping genes in Metazoa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although the overlap of transcriptional units occurs frequently in eukaryotic genomes, its evolutionary and biological significance remains largely unclear. Here we report a comparative analysis of overlaps between genes coding for well-annotated proteins in five metazoan genomes (human, mouse, zebrafish, fruit fly and worm).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For all analyzed species the observed number of overlapping genes is always lower than expected assuming functional neutrality, suggesting that gene overlap is negatively selected. The comparison to the random distribution also shows that retained overlaps do not exhibit random features: antiparallel overlaps are significantly enriched, while overlaps lying on the same strand and those involving coding sequences are highly underrepresented. We confirm that overlap is mostly species-specific and provide evidence that it frequently originates through the acquisition of terminal, non-coding exons. Finally, we show that overlapping genes tend to be significantly co-expressed in a breast cancer cDNA library obtained by 454 deep sequencing, and that different overlap types display different patterns of reciprocal expression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data suggest that overlap between protein-coding genes is selected against in Metazoa. However, when retained it may be used as a species-specific mechanism for the reciprocal regulation of neighboring genes. The tendency of overlaps to involve non-coding regions of the genes leads to the speculation that the advantages achieved by an overlapping arrangement may be optimized by evolving regulatory non-coding transcripts.</p

Modelling human choices: MADeM and decision‑making

Research supported by FAPESP 2015/50122-0 and DFG-GRTK 1740/2. RP and AR are also part of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics FAPESP grant (2013/07699-0). RP is supported by a FAPESP scholarship (2013/25667-8). ACR is partially supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

In vivo RNA-RNA duplexes from human alpha3 and alpha5 nicotinic receptor subunit mRNAs

Natural antisense transcripts, because of their potential to form double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules, recently emerged as a mechanism acting on eukaryotic gene regulation at multiple levels. CHRNA3 and CHRNA5, coding for α3 and α5 subunits of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, have been reported to overlap at their 3′ends in human and bovine genomes. In the present paper, four CHRNA3 and three CHRNA5 human transcripts were characterised, leading to the identification of different antisense complementary regions. Since the two genes are coexpressed in some neuronal and non-neuronal tissues, we ventured on the in vivo identification of RNA-RNA duplexes in both humans and cattle. Using an RNase protection-based approach, CHRNA3/CHRNA5 duplexes were detected in human neuroblastoma SY5Y cells, but not in bovine cerebellum. A semi-quantitative analysis of overlapping transcript levels was performed by real-time RT-PCR. Possible consequences of sense-antisense interaction are discussed

Narrative medicine educational project to improve the care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by a progressive loss of pulmonary function. Often patients do not adhere to inhaled therapies and this leads clinicians to switch treatments in order to improve control of the symptoms. Narrative medicine is a useful approach that helps healthcare professionals to think over the doctor–patient relationship and how patients live with their disease. The aim of this training project was to teach pulmonologists the basics of narrative medicine: to carefully listen to patients and to practice reflective writing in their relationship with them. Training on narrative medicine and parallel charts was provided through a webinar and a weekly newsletter. Across 362 narratives, written by 74 Italian pulmonologists, 92% of patients had activity limitations at their first visit. The main factor influencing the effectiveness and adherence to therapy was a positive doctor–patient relationship; indeed, if such relationship is difficult, only 21% of patients are able to resume all their activities. After learning the narrative approach, clinicians became aware of the need to spend more time listening to patients, to reflect through writing and to understand more deeply the motivations that lead people towards adherence to new therapies

Search for Multi-Coincidence Cosmic Ray Events over Large Distances with the EEE MRPC Telescopes

The existence of independent, yet time correlated, Extensive Air Showers (EAS) has been discussed over the past years, with emphasis on possible physical mechanisms that could justify their observation. The detector network of the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Collaboration, with its approximately 60 cosmic ray telescopes deployed over the Italian territory, has the potential to search for such events, employing different analysis strategies. In this paper, we have analyzed a set of EEE data, corresponding to an approximately five month observation period, searching for multi-coincidence events among several far telescopes, within a time window of 1 ms. Events with up to 12 coincident telescopes have been observed. Results were compared to expectations from a random distribution of events and discussed with reference to the relativistic dust grain hypothesis

Latest results from the PolarquEEEst missions

The PolarquEEEst scientific programme consists in a series of measurements of the cosmic ray flux up to the highest latitudes, well beyond the Polar Article Circle. It started in Summer 2018, when one telescope for cosmic rays was installed on a sailboat leaving from North Iceland, to circumnavigate the Svalbard archipelago and land in Tromsø. It collected data up to 82N, measuring with unprecedented precision the charged particle rate at sea level in these regions. During Fall of the same year and Spring 2019 the PolarquEEEst programme continued with a series of measurements performed using the same detector, which took place first in Italy, with the southernmost point reached at Lampedusa, and then in Germany, with the goal to measure the dependence of cosmic charged particle rate with latitude. Then, in May 2019, the PolarquEEEst collaboration accomplished another important result, installing a cosmic ray observatory for the detection of secondary cosmic muons at Ny Alesund, at 79N, made of three independent identical detectors positioned a few hundred meters from each other, and synchronized in order to operate together as a network. This configuration allows high precision measurements never performed before at these latitudes on a long term, also interesting for their connection with environmental phenomena. Here the various missions will be presented, and the latest results from the measurements performed will be shown

Towards a full and realistic simulation framework for the Extreme Energy Events experiment

The network of MRPC (Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chambers) telescopes of the Extreme Energy Events experiment (EEE) was designed to study very high energy cosmic rays through detection of secondary cosmic muons in the hadronic shower. To better understand and predict the behavior of such events, a GEANT4-based simulation framework that well reproduces the response of individual telescopes was built. Simulations are crucial to better understand the detectors performance in current setup and how these are affected by the specific installations. This is the first step towards a full simulation framework that includes a realistic generation, now limited to muons, of secondary particles and propagation through the atmosphere of the shower produced by primary rays. The current framework can be used to characterize and optimize the array of EEE telescopes, simulating not only the single detectors but also telescope's clusters, providing insight in extreme energy and rare events. In this contribution, the EEE simulation framework and future plans will be presented

Looking for long-range correlations among the EEE telescopes

none60siThe search for long-range correlations among air showers is one of the main goal of the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project. The existence of such events has only been supposed theoretically through several physical mechanisms, the most convincing being the so-called GZ effect, based on the photodisintegration of a heavy primary nucleus in the solar field. Even with a large detector coverage, current rate expectations are of few events per year. To measure time correlations among distant air showers, sparse arrays of detection stations spread over large areas are needed. A very limited number of experimental setups can perform this measurement and few experimental results have been reported over the past years. Started in 2004 the EEE project is a network of about 60 cosmic muons tracking telescopes made by 3 wide area Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs), sensitive to the direction of incident charged cosmic particles. The telescopes are distributed over the whole Italian territory, thus making the EEE array an ideal tool for the detection of long-range time correlations among extensive air showers. In this paper we will describe the analysis strategies adopted to search for such rare correlation events, together with the results obtained analysing the full statistics collected by the EEE telescopes.restrictedLa Rocca, P.; Abbrescia, Marcello; Avanzini, Carlo; Baldini, Luca; Baldini Ferroli, Rinaldo; Batignani, Giovanni; Battaglieri, Marco; Boi, Stefano; Bossini, Edoardo; Carnesecchi, Francesca; Cicalo, Corrado; Cifarelli, Luisa; Coccetti, Fabrizio; Coccia, Eugenio; Corvaglia, Alessandro; De Gruttola, Daniele; De Pasquale, Salvatore; Fabbri, Franco L.; Galante, Lorenzo; Garbini, Marco; Gemme, Gianluca; Gnesi, Ivan; Grazzi, Stefano; Hatzifotiadou, Despina; Liu, Zheng; Mandaglio, Giuseppe; Maron, Gaetano; Mazziotta, Mario Nicola; Mulliri, Alice; Nania, Rosario; Noferini, Francesco; Nozzoli, Francesco; Palmonari, Federico; Panareo, Marco; Panetta, Maria Paola; Paoletti, Riccardo; Pellegrino, Carmelo; Pinazza, Ombretta; Pinto, Chiara; Pisano, Silvia; Riggi, Francesco; Righini, Giancarlo Cesare; Ripoli, Cristina; Rizzi, Matteo; Sartorelli, Gabriella; Scapparone, Eugenio; Schioppa, Marco; Scribano, Angelo; Selvi, Marco; Serri, Gabriella; Squarcia, Sandro; Taiuti, Mauro; Terreni, Giuseppe; Trifirò, Antonio; Trimarchi, Marina; Vistoli, Cristina; Votano, Lucia; Williams, Crispin; Zichichi, Antonino; Zuyeuski, RomanLa Rocca, P.; Abbrescia, Marcello; Avanzini, Carlo; Baldini, Luca; Baldini Ferroli, Rinaldo; Batignani, Giovanni; Battaglieri, Marco; Boi, Stefano; Bossini, Edoardo; Carnesecchi, Francesca; Cicalo, Corrado; Cifarelli, Luisa; Coccetti, Fabrizio; Coccia, Eugenio; Corvaglia, Alessandro; De Gruttola, Daniele; De Pasquale, Salvatore; Fabbri, Franco L.; Galante, Lorenzo; Garbini, Marco; Gemme, Gianluca; Gnesi, Ivan; Grazzi, Stefano; Hatzifotiadou, Despina; Liu, Zheng; Mandaglio, Giuseppe; Maron, Gaetano; Mazziotta, Mario Nicola; Mulliri, Alice; Nania, Rosario; Noferini, Francesco; Nozzoli, Francesco; Palmonari, Federico; Panareo, Marco; Panetta, Maria Paola; Paoletti, Riccardo; Pellegrino, Carmelo; Pinazza, Ombretta; Pinto, Chiara; Pisano, Silvia; Riggi, Francesco; Righini, Giancarlo Cesare; Ripoli, Cristina; Rizzi, Matteo; Sartorelli, Gabriella; Scapparone, Eugenio; Schioppa, Marco; Scribano, Angelo; Selvi, Marco; Serri, Gabriella; Squarcia, Sandro; Taiuti, Mauro; Terreni, Giuseppe; Trifirò, Antonio; Trimarchi, Marina; Vistoli, Cristina; Votano, Lucia; Williams, Crispin; Zichichi, Antonino; Zuyeuski, Roma