1,103 research outputs found
Complete Genome Sequencing of Acinetobacter sp. Strain LoGeW2-3, Isolated from the Pellet of a White Stork, Reveals a Novel Class D Beta-Lactamase Gene
Whole-genome sequencing of Acinetobacter sp. strain LoGeW2-3, isolated from the pellet of a white stork (Ciconia ciconia), reveals the presence of a plasmid of 179,399 bp encoding a CRISPR-Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated genes) system of the I-F type, and the chromosomally encoded novel class D beta-lactamase OXA-568
Mesophase formation in two-component cylindrical bottle-brush polymers
When two types of side chains (A,B) are densely grafted to a (stiff) backbone
and the resulting bottle-brush polymer is in a solution under poor solvent
conditions, an incompatibility between A and B leads to microphase separation
in the resulting cylindrical brush. The possible types of ordering are
reminiscent of the ordering of block copolymers in cylindrical confinement.
Starting from this analogy, Leibler's theory of microphase separation in block
copolymer melts is generalized to derive a description of the system in the
weak segregation limit. Also molecular dynamics simulation results of a
corresponding coarse-grained bead-spring model are presented. Using side chain
lengths up to N = 50 effective monomers, the ratio of the Lennard-Jones energy
parameter between unlike monomers and monomers of the same
kind is varied. Various correlation
functions are analyzed to study the conditions when (local) Janus cylinder-type
ordering and when (local) microphase separation in the direction along the
cylinder axis occurs. Both the analytical theory and the simulations give
evidence for short range order due to a tendency towards microphase separation
in the axial direction, with a wavelength proportional to the side chain
gyration radius, irrespective of temperature and grafting density, for a wide
range of these parameters.Comment: 26 pages, 19 figure
Acinetobacter baumannii from Samples of Commercially Reared Turkeys: Genomic Relationships, Antimicrobial and Biocide Susceptibility
Acinetobacter baumannii is especially known as a cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. It shows intrinsic and acquired resistances to numerous antimicrobial agents, which can render the treatment difficult. In contrast to the situation in human medicine, there are only few studies focusing on A. baumannii among livestock. In this study, we have examined 643 samples from turkeys reared for meat production, including 250 environmental and 393 diagnostic samples, for the presence of A. baumannii. In total, 99 isolates were identified, confirmed to species level via MALDI-TOF-MS and characterised with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Antimicrobial and biocide susceptibility was tested by broth microdilution methods. Based on the results, 26 representative isolates were selected and subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS). In general, A. baumannii was detected at a very low prevalence, except for a high prevalence of 79.7% in chick-box-papers (n = 118) of one-day-old turkey chicks. The distributions of the minimal inhibitory concentration values were unimodal for the four biocides and for most of the antimicrobial agents tested. WGS revealed 16 Pasteur and 18 Oxford sequence types, including new ones. Core genome MLST highlighted the diversity of most isolates. In conclusion, the isolates detected were highly diverse and still susceptible to many antimicrobial agents
Mechanistic insight into how multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii response regulator AdeR recognizes an intercistronic region
AdeR-AdeS is a two-component regulatory system, which controls expression of the adeABC efflux pump involved in Acinetobacter baumannii multidrug resistance. AdeR is a response regulator consisting of an N-terminal receiver domain and a C-terminal DNA-binding-domain. AdeR binds to a direct-repeat DNA in the intercistronic region between adeR and adeABC. We demonstrate a markedly high affinity binding between unphosphorylated AdeR and DNA with a dissociation constant of 20 nM. In addition, we provide a 2.75 angstrom crystal structure of AdeR DNA-binding-domain complexed with the intercistronic DNA. This structure shows that the alpha 3 and beta hairpin formed by beta 5-beta 6 interacts with the major and minor groove of the DNA, which in turn leads to the introduction of a bend. The AdeR receiver domain structure revealed a dimerization motif mediated by a gearwheel-like structure involving the D108F109-R122 motif through cation pi stack interaction. The structure of AdeR receiver domain bound with magnesium indicated a conserved Glu19Asp20-Asp63 magnesium-binding motif, and revealed that the potential phosphorylation site Asp63(OD1) forms a hydrogen bond with Lys112. We thus dissected the mechanism of how AdeR recognizes the intercistronic DNA, which leads to a diverse mode of response regulation. Unlocking the AdeRS mechanism provides ways to circumvent A. baumannii antibiotic resistance
Why polymer chains in a melt are not random walks
A cornerstone of modern polymer physics is the `Flory ideality hypothesis'
which states that a chain in a polymer melt adopts `ideal' random-walk-like
conformations. Here we revisit theoretically and numerically this pivotal
assumption and demonstrate that there are noticeable deviations from ideality.
The deviations come from the interplay of chain connectivity and the
incompressibility of the melt, leading to an effective repulsion between chain
segments of all sizes . The amplitude of this repulsion increases with
decreasing where chain segments become more and more swollen. We illustrate
this swelling by an analysis of the form factor , i.e. the scattered
intensity at wavevector resulting from intramolecular interferences of a
chain. A `Kratky plot' of {\em vs.} does not exhibit the plateau
for intermediate wavevectors characteristic of ideal chains. One rather finds a
conspicuous depression of the plateau, ,
which increases with and only depends on the monomer density .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, EPL, accepted January 200
Cross-sectional study examining the epidemiology of chronic pain in Nepal
Abstract. Introduction:. The World Health Organization recognizes chronic pain as a global public health concern; however, there is a bias towards research conducted in relatively affluent nations. There is a dearth of large-scale epidemiological studies in Nepal using rigorously validated, cross-culturally adapted instruments.
Objectives:. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of both chronic pain and chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin and their associations with a range of sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics.
Methods:. We conducted a cross-sectional study of adults (≥18 years) in all households in Ranipani, Baluwa Village Development Committee, Nepal. All adults (n = 887) were approached, and those consenting, who met the inclusion criteria (n = 520, 58.6%), participated. Questionnaires validated in Nepali were used to examine several constructs: demographics; chronic pain; neuropathic pain; pain catastrophizing; resilience, pain intensity; pain interference; sleep disturbance; and depression.
Results:. The point prevalence of chronic pain was 53.3% (n = 277). The point prevalence of chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin was 12.7% (n = 66). Chronic pain was associated with female gender, older age, and manual labour occupations. Using standardized scoring techniques, compared with available population estimates from other countries, those with chronic pain were associated with lower pain intensity and resilience scores and higher pain catastrophizing, pain interference, and depression scores.
Conclusion:. These findings are broadly comparable to epidemiological studies from other countries, and these indicate areas for targeting interventions (eg, occupational and mental health). For comparison, more data are needed, from larger population samples in this region
Reentrant Peak Effect in an anisotropic superconductor 2H-NbSe_2 : Role of disorder
The reentrant nature of Peak Effect is established in a single crystal of
2H-NbSe_2 via electrical transport and dc magnetisation studies. The role of
disorder on the reentrant branch of PE has been examined in three single
crystals with varying levels of quenched random disorder. Increasing disorder
presumably shrinks the (H,T) parameter space over which vortex array retains
spatial order. Although, the upper branch of the PE curve is somewhat robust,
the lower reentrant branch of the same curve is strongly affected by disorder.Comment: 5 Pages of text, 4 figure
Seasonal Occurrence and Carbapenem Susceptibility of Bovine Acinetobacter baumannii in Germany
Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections in humans. To investigate its prevalence, distribution of sequence types (STs), and antimicrobial resistance in cattle, we sampled 422 cattle, including 280 dairy cows, 59 beef cattle, and 83 calves over a 14-month period. Metadata, such as the previous use of antimicrobial agents and feeding, were collected to identify putative determining factors. Bacterial isolates were identified via MALDI-TOF/MS and PCR, antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated via VITEK2 and antibiotic gradient tests, resistance genes were identified by PCR. Overall, 15.6% of the cattle harbored A. baumannii, predominantly in the nose (60.3% of the A. baumannii isolates). It was more frequent in dairy cows (21.1%) than in beef cattle (6.8%) and calves (2.4%). A seasonal occurrence was shown with a peak between May and August. The rate of occurrence of A. baumannii was correlated with a history of use of 3rd generation cephalosporins in the last 6 months prior to sampling Multilocus sequence typing (Pasteur scheme) revealed 83 STs among 126 unique isolates. Nine of the bovine STs have previously been implicated in human infections. Besides known intrinsic resistance of the species, the isolates did not show additional resistance to the antimicrobial substances tested, including carbapenems. Our data suggest that cattle are not a reservoir for nosocomial A. baumannii but carry a highly diverse population of this species. Nevertheless, some STs seem to be able to colonize both cattle and humans
What people look for in others: Influences of the perceiver and the perceived on information selection.
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