Bibliographic review: multiresistant bacteria

[Resumen]: Las bacterias multirresistentes son objeto de gran preocupación para la salud pública debido a su habilidad para resistir los tratamientos con antibióticos. El estudio de los mecanismos de resistencia bacteriana y su comprensión es necesario para poder sortearlos o eliminarlos en los tratamientos de infecciones causadas por bacterias multirresistentes. Dentro de las bacterias multirresistentes cabe destacar el grupo ESKAPE, compuesto por bacterias de alta prioridad declaradas por la OMS. Las infecciones nosocomiales causadas por estas bacterias son cada vez más complicadas, las bacterias están aumentando su capacidad de resistencia y son necesarios fármacos de última generación para tratarlas. Esta situación está dando paso a la aplicación de nuevas tecnologías con aplicaciones bactericidas como la nanotecnología, el empleo de bacteriófagos o el uso del sistema CRISPR-Cas. Estas nuevas tecnologías pueden permitir la implantación de nuevos tratamientos no dependientes de antibióticos o usarse para eliminar la resistencia de las bacterias multirresistentes.[Resumo]: As bacterias multirresistentes son obxecto dunha gran preocupación para a saúde pública debido a súa capacidade de resistir os tratamentos con antibióticos. O estudo dos mecanismos de resistencia bacteriana e a súa comprensión é necesario para poder sortealos nos tratamentos de infeccións causadas por bacterias multirresistentes. Dentro das bacterias multirresistentes cabe destacar as do grupo ESKAPE, composto por bacterias de alta prioridade declaradas pola OMS. As infeccións nosocomiais causadas por estas bacterias son cada vez máis complicadas, as bacterias están a aumentar a súa capacidade de resistencia e son necesarios fármacos de última xeración para tratalas. Esta situación está a dar paso á aplicación de novas tecnoloxías con aplicación bactericidas como a nanotecnoloxía, o emprego de bacteriófagos ou o uso do sistema CRISPR-Cas. Estas novas tecnoloxías poden permitir a implantación de novos tratamentos non dependentes de antibióticos ou usarse para eliminar a resistencia das bacterias multirresistentes.[Abstract]: Multiresistant bacteria are a public health of great concern for their ability to resist antibiotic treatments. The study of resistance mechanism and an adequate comprehension is necessary to avoid or eliminate them in multiresistant infections treatments. Among multiresistant bacteria is worth mentioning the group ESKAPE, composed by high priority bacteria declared by the WHO. Nosocomial infections caused by these bacteria are increasingly complicated, bacteria are improving their resistance capacity and state of the art drugs are necessary for treatment. This situation is giving way to the application of new technologies with bactericidal applications such as nanotechnology, the use of bacteriophages or CRISPR-Cas system. These new technologies can allow the implantation of new not antibiotic dependent treatments or be used to resistance capacity of multiresistant bacteria.Traballo fin de grao (UDC.CIE). Bioloxía. Curso 2020/202

The human connection: First evidence of microplastics in remote high mountain lakes of Sierra Nevada, Spain

Data availability Data will be made available on request.Acknowledgements We would like to thank the support of all the citizen volunteers without which this work would not have been possible. We are extremely grateful to the colleagues of the Ecology Department Carmen Pérez, Eloisa Ramos, Jesús Manuel López-Rodríguez and José Antonio Delgado for leading the multidisciplinary research groups. We are indebted to the contribution of Joana Llodrá for lake basins estimations. Dr. Bopaiah Biddanda is acknowledge for his thorough suggestions. We are also grateful to the staff of Sierra Nevada National Park and the Global Change Observatory of Sierra Nevada who have always supported the “74 High Mountain Glacial-Lake Oases” Citizen Science initiative. This research has been funded by a FECYT grant to MVA (FCT- 18-13095), the LifeWatch-ERIC project “Smart EcoMountains” (LifeWatch- 2019-10-832 UGR-01), a FEDER/Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades project (P20_00105), and by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación project “REMOLADOX” (PID 2020-118872RB-I00). Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUA.Microplastics have become one of the most serious global threats to animal and human health. While their presence has been documented in all Earth water ecosystems, including remote mountain lakes, the observation that the abundance of microplastics is largely different across nearby lakes has rarely been examined. As part of a citizen science initiative, this study analyzed for the first time the abundance of microplastics in the surface of 35 glacial lakes of Sierra Nevada National Park in Southern Spain with the objective of determining the local factors that control their abundance. First, we described the shape, size, color and nature of microplastics. Second, we tested whether the number of microplastics differed between basins and analyzed environmental and morphometrical features of lakes affecting their abundance. We found that microplastics were common in most lakes, with a maximum abundance of 21.3 particles per liter that akin to some of the most microplastic polluted lakes worldwide. Fragments were the predominant shape (59.7%) followed by fibers (38.8%) and very scarce spheres (1.5%). Microplastics were observed for all size-fractions, but the abundance of particles <45 μm was higher, what advocates for the use of low pore-size filters to prevent underestimation of microplastics. While the mean abundance of microplastics did not differ among basins, their quantity was related to the presence of meadows surrounding the lakes. This result indicates that while atmospheric transport of microsplastics may equally reach all basins, differences in microplastics among nearby-lakes has an anthropic origin caused by mountaineers who find lakes with ample meadows much more attractive to visit relative to barren lakes. The staggering number in these remote lakes, headwaters of rivers that feed drinking reservoirs, is a major concern that warrants further investigation and the strict compliance with waste management laws to reduce the harmful impacts of microplastic contamination.FECYT grant to MVA (FCT- 18-13095)LifeWatch-ERIC project “Smart EcoMountains” (LifeWatch- 2019-10-832 UGR-01)FEDER/Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades project (P20_00105)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación project “REMOLADOX” (PID 2020-118872RB-I00)Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBU

Removal efficiency for emerging contaminants in a WWTP from Madrid (Spain) after secondary and tertiary treatment and environmental impact on the Manzanares River

The effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can be an important contamination source for receiving waters. In this work, a comprehensive study on the impact of a WWTP from Madrid on the aquatic environment has been performed, including a wide number of pharmaceuticals and pesticides, among them those included in the European Watch List. 24-h composite samples of influent (IWW) and effluent wastewater after secondary (EWW2) and after secondary + tertiary treatment (EWW3) were monitored along two campaigns. Average weekly concentrations in IWW and EWW2 and EWW3 allowed estimating the removal efficiency of the WWTP for pharmaceutical active substances (PhACs). In addition, the impact of EWW3 on the water quality of the Manzanares River was assessed, in terms of PhAC and pesticide concentrations, through analysis of the river water collected upstream and downstream of the discharge point. After a preliminary risk assessment, a detailed evaluation of the impact on the aquatic environment, including a toxicological study and screening of pharmaceutical metabolites, was made for the seven most relevant PhACs: sulfamethoxazole, azithromycin and clarithromycin (antibiotics), metoprolol (antihypertensive), diclofenac (anti-inflammatory/analgesic), irbesartan (antihypertensive), and the antidepressant venlafaxine. Among selected PhACs, irbesartan, clarithromycin and venlafaxine presented moderate or high risk in the river water downstream of the discharge. Albeit no acute toxicity was detected, more detailed studies should be carried out for these substances, including additional toxicological studies, to set up potential sublethal and chronic effects on aquatic organisms.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Estudio sobre la percepción de la autoevaluación por parte de alumnado y profesorado de educación física

En este trabajo se realiza un estudio de las percepciones de alumnado y profesorado sobre la autoevaluación en Educación Física. En la primera parte se revisa bibliografía sobre esta temática, para así poder comprender cómo funciona la autoevaluación y cuáles son sus ventajas e inconvenientes. Posteriormente, se desarrollan los objetivos del estudio y la metodología empleada, así como los instrumentos utilizados para la recogida de información (cuestionarios y entrevistas). Por último, se muestran los resultados y se realiza una discusión sobre los mismos

The human connection: First evidence of microplastics in remote high mountain lakes of Sierra Nevada, Spain.

Microplastics have become one of the most serious global threats to animal and human health. While their presence has been documented in all Earth water ecosystems, including remote mountain lakes, the observation that the abundance of microplastics is largely different across nearby lakes has rarely been examined. As part of a citizen science initiative, this study analyzed for the first time the abundance of microplastics in the surface of 35 glacial lakes of Sierra Nevada National Park in Southern Spain with the objective of determining the local factors that control their abundance. First, we described the shape, size, color and nature of microplastics. Second, we tested whether the number of microplastics differed between basins and analyzed environmental and morphometrical features of lakes affecting their abundance. We found that microplastics were common in most lakes, with a maximum abundance of 21.3 particles per liter that akin to some of the most microplastic polluted lakes worldwide. Fragments were the predominant shape (59.7%) followed by fibers (38.8%) and very scarce spheres (1.5%). Microplastics were observed for all size-fractions, but the abundance of particle

Discovering HIV related information by means of association rules and machine learning

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is still one of the main health problems worldwide. It is therefore essential to keep making progress in improving the prognosis and quality of life of affected patients. One way to advance along this pathway is to uncover connections between other disorders associated with HIV/AIDS-so that they can be anticipated and possibly mitigated. We propose to achieve this by using Association Rules (ARs). They allow us to represent the dependencies between a number of diseases and other specific diseases. However, classical techniques systematically generate every AR meeting some minimal conditions on data frequency, hence generating a vast amount of uninteresting ARs, which need to be filtered out. The lack of manually annotated ARs has favored unsupervised filtering, even though they produce limited results. In this paper, we propose a semi-supervised system, able to identify relevant ARs among HIV-related diseases with a minimal amount of annotated training data. Our system has been able to extract a good number of relationships between HIV-related diseases that have been previously detected in the literature but are scattered and are often little known. Furthermore, a number of plausible new relationships have shown up which deserve further investigation by qualified medical experts