Whole genome sequencing identifies independent outbreaks of Shigellosis in 2010 and 2011 in La Pampa Province, Argentina

AbstractShigella sonnei is an emergent cause of diarrheal disease in middle-income countries. The organism causes endemic disease and is also associated with sporadic outbreaks in susceptible populations. In 2010 and 2011 there were two suspected outbreaks of diarrheal disease caused by S. sonnei in La Pampa province in central Argentina. Aiming to confirm these as outbreaks and provide insight into the relationship of the strains causing these infections we combined antimicrobial susceptibility testing and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) with whole genome sequencing (WGS). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing suggested the two events were unrelated; organisms isolated in 2010 exhibited resistance to trimethoprim sulphate whereas the 2011 S. sonnei were non-susceptible against ampicillin, trimethoprim sulphate and cefpodoxime. PFGE profiling confirmed the likelihood of two independent outbreaks, separating the isolates into two main XbaI restriction profiles. We additionally performed WGS on 17 isolates associated with these outbreaks. The resulting phylogeny confirmed the PFGE structure and separated the organisms into two comparatively distantly related clones. Antimicrobial resistant genes were common, and the presence of an OXA-1 was likely associated with resistance to cefpodoxime in the second outbreak. We additionally identified novel horizontally transferred genetic material that may impinge on the pathogenic phenotype of the infecting strains. Our study shows that even with a lack of supporting routine data WGS is an indispensible method for the tracking and surveillance of bacterial pathogens during outbreaks and is becoming a vital tool for the monitoring of antimicrobial resistant strains of S. sonnei.</jats:p

Problems and Features of Forming Resources of the Ukrainian Financial System

The article defines the essence of financial resources of the national economy and discloses features of their formation in the process of flow of funds between the state, economic entities, households and international financial and credit institutions. The economic content of financial resources of the state is highlighted, and sources of their formation are studied; the dynamics of volumes of the budgetary fund, government borrowings and debt servicing costs in Ukraine are analyzed. The author’s understanding of the nature of enterprise financial resources is suggested, the aggregate of sources of their generation is justified, the dynamics of forming equity and total capital in domestic enterprises is assessed. The essence and role of financial resources of households in the country’s financial system is determined, the analysis of the population income, expenses and savings is performed. Using the correlation and regression analysis there investigated the relationship between the gross domestic product, budget resources, savings of citizens, government borrowings and their servicing costs

Molecular detection of enterotoxins in environmental strains of Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas jandaei

Aeromonas species are widely distributed in aquatic environments and recent studies include the genus in the emergent pathogens group because of its frequent association with local and systemic infections in immunocompetent humans. Aiming to search for virulence genes in environmental strains of Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas jandaei, we designed specific primers to detect act/hly A/aer complex and alt genes. Primers described elsewhere were used to detect ast. Eighty-seven strains previously identified using phenotypic and genotypic tests as A. hydrophila (41) and A. jandaei (46) were analysed for the presence of the virulence genes using PCR. DNA fragments of expected size were purified and directly sequenced. Among the 41 strains of A. hydrophila 70.7% (29), 97.6% (40) and 26.8% (11) possessed act/hly A/aer complex, ast and alt genes, respectively. Among the 46 strains of A. jandaei, 4.4% (2), 0% (0) and 32.6% (15) were positive for act/hly A/aer complex, ast and alt genes, respectively. Sequencing allowed for the confirmation of amplified products using BLAST. The present work proposes a specific and rapid diagnostic method to detect the main virulence determinants of Aeromonas, a genus potentially pathogenic to humans.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP

Hipertensão arterial sistêmica auto-referida: validação diagnóstica em estudo de base populacional

Com o objetivo de investigar a validade do auto-relato de hipertensão arterial, realizou-se estudo transversal, de base populacional, com indivíduos de 20 anos ou mais de idade, residentes em Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, selecionados por amostragem probabilística em dois estágios. A pressão arterial foi medida duas vezes (cinco minutos de intervalo) em 2.949 participantes visitados em casa. Aqueles com pressão sistólica 140mmHg e/ou diastólica 90mmHg foram revisitados, e a pressão medida mais duas vezes. Conforme padrão-ouro, hipertensão foi definida pela média das pressões na segunda visita ou uso de medicação anti-hipertensiva. O auto-relato foi obtido por meio da pergunta: "Algum médico disse que o(a) Sr.(a) tem pressão alta?". A prevalência auto-referida foi 33,6%, e a medida, 29,5%. A sensibilidade foi 84,3% (IC95%: 81,7-86,7), especificidade 87,5% (IC95%: 86,0-88,9), valor preditivo positivo 73,9% (IC95%: 71,0-76,6) e negativo de 93,0% (IC95%: 91,8-94,1). O auto-relato mostrou-se válido para monitoração da prevalência de hipertensão, um dos mais importantes fatores de risco para as doenças crônicas não transmissíveis

Detection of metallo-beta-lactamases-encoding genes in environmental isolates of Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas jandaei

Aims: To determine the prevalence and expression of metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL)-encoding genes in Aeromonas species recovered from natural water reservoirs in southeastern Brazil. Methods and Results: Eighty-seven Aeromonas isolates belonging to Aeromonas hydrophila (n = 41) and Aer. jandaei (n = 46) species were tested for MBL production by the combined disk test using imipenem and meropenem disks as substrates and EDTA or thioglycolic acid as inhibitors. The presence of MBL genes was investigated by PCR and sequencing using new consensus primer pairs designed in this study. The cphA gene was found in 97.6% and 100% of Aer. hydrophila and Aer. jandaei isolates, respectively, whereas the acquired MBL genes bla(IMP), bla(VIM) and bla(SPM-1) were not detected. On the other hand, production of MBL activity was detectable in 87.8% and 10.9% of the cphA-positive Aer. hydrophila and Aer. jandaei isolates respectively. Conclusions: Our results indicate that cphA seems to be intrinsic in the environmental isolates of Aer. hydrophila and Aer. jandaei in southeastern Brazil, although, based on the combined disk test, not all of them are apparently able to express the enzymatic activity. Significance and Impact of the Study: These data confirm the presence of MBL-producing Aeromonas species in natural water reservoirs. Risk of water-borne diseases owing to domestic and industrial uses of freshwater should be re-examined from the increase of bacterial resistance point of view.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)[2007/02266-7]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)[2007/02238-3]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP)Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP)[0934/07

Determination of the chemical warfare agents Sarin, Soman and Tabun in natural waters employing fluorescent hybrid silica materials

[EN] A novel mesoporous silica material containing boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moieties (I) is employed for the detection of nerve agent simulants (NASs) and the organophosphate nerve or chemical warfare agents (CWAs) Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), and Tabun (GA) in aqueous environments. The reactive BODIPY dye with an optimum positioned hydroxyl group undergoes acylation reactions with phosph(on)ate substrates, yielding a bicyclic ring. Due to aggregation of the dyes in water, the sensitivity of the free dye in solution is very low. Only after immobilization of the BODIPY moieties into the silica substrates is aggregation inhibited and a sensitive determination of the NASs diethyl cyanophosphonate (DCNP), diethyl chlorophosphate (DCP) and diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) possible. The signaling mode is a strong quenching of the fluorescence, reaching LODs in the pM range. The best performing hybrid material was singled out from a library of hybrid silicas varying in morphology and surface functionalization. The response to actual CWAs such as GB, GD, and GA has also been tested, offering similar behavior as for the simulants. The proposed reaction mechanism has been verified by investigation of other model materials, containing for instance BODIPY moieties without an optimum hydroxyl group (III) or a BODIPY dye with an all-aliphatic counterpart (IV). The latter can only form a monocyclic reaction product, showing much less reactivity as I. Assays with other possible competitors have been additionally carried out, showing favorably low cross-reactivities. Finally, the determination of NASs in several natural waters has been demonstrated. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the Generalitat Valenciana (Project PROMETEOII/2014/047), the Spanish Government and European FEDER funds (Project MAT2015-64139-C4) is gratefully acknowledged. We thank S. Selve (Technical University Berlin) for TEM images, A. Zehl (Humboldt University Berlin) for elemental analysis, D. Pfeifer and C. Jager (BAM, Div. 1.3) for NMR support, A. Zimathies (BAM, Div. 1.3) for N2 adsorption/desorption measurements and T. Fischer (BAM, Div. 1.9) for support with the fluorescence decay measurements.Climent, E.; Biyikal, M.; Gawlitza, K.; Dropa, T.; Urban, M.; Costero, AM.; Martínez-Máñez, R.... (2017). Determination of the chemical warfare agents Sarin, Soman and Tabun in natural waters employing fluorescent hybrid silica materials. Sensors and Actuators B Chemical. 246:1056-1065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2017.02.115S1056106524