Genomic and phenotypic characterization of Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis strains

Research Areas: MicrobiologyThe pathogenesis mechanisms of Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis (Cfv), the etiologic agent of Bovine Genital Campylobacteriosis remain elusive. This study evaluated the virulence potential and biovar characteristics of Cfv isolates (n = 13) by PCR screening of putative virulencefactor (VF) genes, Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) analysis, antimicrobial susceptibility to tetracycline, penicillin, enrofloxacin and streptomycin testing and whole-genome sequencing (WGS; n = 5), also comparing the latter with 26 other whole-genome sequences of Cfv strains. The putative VF genes encoding type IV secretion system of Cfv (virB2-virB11/virD4) were absent in 92% of isolates, including isolates from aborted foetuses, evidencing that these VF genes are not essential for Cfv pathogenicity. The parA gene, used as a Cfv diagnostic molecular target, was detected in only 3 of 13 isolates, invalidating its use for diagnosis purposes. Three novel sequence types were identified by MLST. Although no in vitro antimicrobial resistance was detected, WGS identified antimicrobial resistance-related genes, including those encoding the multidrug efflux pumps CmeABC and YkkCD, indicating that their presence is not enough to provide antimicrobial resistance. The SNP and accessory protein families analysis segregated the Cfv and Cfv biovar intermedius (Cfvi) strains into different clusters. In conclusion, this study evidenced virulence potential and biovar characteristics of Cfv and Cfvi, which are of relevance for the control of Bovine Genital Campylobacteriosis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Heterotrophic and photoautotrophic media optimization using response surface methodology for the Novel Microalga Chlorococcum amblystomatis

The nutritional requirements of novel microalgal strains are key for their effective cultivation and metabolite content. Therefore, the optimization of heterotrophic and photoautotrophic culture media is crucial for novel Chlorococcum amblystomatis growth. Heterotrophic and photoautotrophic biomass samples were characterized to identify the differences between their heterotrophic and photoautotrophic biomass composition and their biotechnological potential. Media optimization through surface response methodology led to 44.9 and 51.2% increments in C. amblystomatis-specific growth rates under heterotrophic and photoautotrophic growth, respectively. This microalga registered high protein content (61.49–73.45% dry weight), with the highest value being observed in the optimized photoautotrophic growth medium. The lipid fraction mainly constituted polyunsaturated fatty acids, ranging from 44.47 to 51.41% for total fatty acids (TFA) in cells under heterotrophy. However, these contents became significantly higher (70.46–72.82% TFA) in cultures cultivated under photoautotrophy. An interesting carotenoids content was achieved in the cultures grown in optimized photoautotrophic medium: 5.84 mg·g−1 β-carotene, 5.27 mg·g−1 lutein, 3.66 mg·g−1 neoxanthin, and 0.75 mg·g−1 violaxanthin. Therefore, C. amblystomatis demonstrated an interesting growth performance and nutritional profile for food supplements and feed products that might contribute to meeting the world’s nutritional demand.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Engineering single-atom Fe-N active sites on hollow carbon spheres for oxygen reduction reaction

Seeking alternatives to noble metals-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hollow carbon spheres (CSs) were finely tuned with stable single-atom Fe-N species through a synthesis methodology requiring only earth-abundant metal precursors. CSs with different sizes were synthesized by sol-gel polycondensation of resorcinol with formaldehyde over silica nanoparticles, followed by thermal annealing and silica etching. A catalyst screening revealed the positive impact of both the hollow core and structural defects of the CSs for ORR. Single-atom Fe-N active sites were introduced on the best performing CSs through simultaneous incorporation of iron and nitrogen precursors, and glucose. A significant enhancement in ORR activity was observed despite the small iron load introduced (0.12 wt%). ORR performance indicators, advanced characterization, and molecular simulation studies revealed nitrogen's crucial role in anchoring individual iron atoms and modulating the charge density nearby the active sites (increase of 80 mV in the half-wave potential). Adding glucose as a chelating agent enhances the metal-heteroatom coordination and subsequent dispersion of iron, accounting for an increase of 20 mV in the half-wave potential, an average of electrons transferred as high as 3.9 (at 0.4 V vs. RHE), and higher stability (99%) than that of a platinum-based (20 wt%) electrocatalyst (92%).11 página

Atrial Fibrillation Diagnosis using ECG Records and Self-Report in the Community:Cross-Sectional Analysis from ELSA-Brasil

FUNDAMENTO: A fibrilação ou flutter atrial (FFA) é a arritmia cardíaca sustentada mais comum. Existem poucos dados sobre a epidemiologia da FFA na América do Sul. OBJETIVO: O presente estudo procurou descrever a epidemiologia clínica da FFA e o uso de anticoagulantes na avaliação da linha de base do Estudo Longitudinal da Saúde do Adulto (ELSA-Brasil). MÉTODOS: Foram analisados dados de 13.260 participantes do ELSA-Brasil. A FFA foi definida pelo eletrocardiograma ou por autorrelato. Modelos de regressão logística foram construídos para analisar fatores associados à FFA. Este estudo também analisou se idade e sexo estavam associados ao uso de anticoagulantes para evitar acidente vascular cerebral. O nível de significância foi de 5%. RESULTADOS: A idade mediana foi de 51 anos, e 7.213 (54,4%) participantes eram mulheres. A FFA foi detectada em 333 (2,5%) participantes. O aumento da idade (razão de chances [RC]:1,05; intervalo de confiança de 95% [IC95%]: 1,04-1,07), hipertensão (RC:1,44; IC95%:1,14-1,81) coronariopatia (RC: 5,11; IC95%:3,85–6,79), insuficiência cardíaca (RC:7,37; IC95%:5,00–10,87) e febre reumática (RC:3,38; IC95%:2,28–5,02) foram associadas à FFA. Dos 185 participantes com FFA e pontuação no CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc≥2, apenas 20 (10,8%) usavam anticoagulantes (50,0% entre aqueles com FFA no eletrocardiograma de linha de base). O uso de anticoagulantes nesse grupo foi associado a maior idade (1,8% vs 17,7% naqueles com idade ≤ 54 e ≥ 65 anos, respectivamente; p=0,013). Observou-se uma tendência ao menor uso de anticoagulantes em mulheres (7,1% vs. 16,4% em mulheres e homens, respectivamente; p=0,055). CONCLUSÕES: No recrutamento do ELSA-Brasil, 2,5% dos participantes tinham FFA. O baixo uso de anticoagulantes era comum, o que representa um desafio para os cuidados de saúde nesse cenário

Photocatalytic ozonation of urban wastewater and surface water using immobilized TiO2 with LEDs: Micropollutants, antibiotic resistance genes and estrogenic activity

Photocatalytic ozonation was employed for the first time in continuous mode with TiO2-coated glass Raschig rings and light emitting diodes (LEDs) to treat urban wastewater as well as surface water collected from the supply area of a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP). Different levels of contamination and types of contaminants were considered in this work, including chemical priority substances (PSs) and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), as well as potential human opportunistic antibiotic resistant bacteria and their genes (ARB&ARG). Photocatalytic ozonation was more effective than single ozonation (or even than TiO2 catalytic ozonation) in the degradation of typical reaction by-products (such as oxalic acid), and more effective than photocatalysis to remove the parent micropollutants determined in urban wastewater. In fact, only fluoxetine, clarithromycin, erythromycin and 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2) were detected after photocatalytic ozonation, by using solid-phase extraction (SPE) pre-concentration and LC-MS/MS analysis. In surface water, this treatment allowed the removal of all determined micropollutants to levels below the limit of detection (0.01-0.20 ng L(-1)). The efficiency of this process was then assessed based on the capacity to remove different groups of cultivable microorganisms and housekeeping (16S rRNA) and antibiotic resistance or related genes (intI1, blaTEM, qnrS, sul1). Photocatalytic ozonation was observed to efficiently remove microorganisms and ARGs. Although after storage total heterotrophic and ARB (to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, meropenem), fungi, and the genes 16S rRNA and intI1, increased to values close to the pre-treatment levels, the ARGs (blaTEM, qnrS and sul1) were reduced to levels below/close to the quantification limit even after 3-days storage of treated surface water or wastewater. Yeast estrogen screen (YES), thiazolyl blue tetrazolium reduction (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays were also performed before and after photocatalytic ozonation to evaluate the potential estrogenic activity, the cellular metabolic activity and the cell viability. Compounds with estrogenic effects and significant differences concerning cell viability were not observed in any case. A slight cytotoxicity was only detected for Caco-2 and hCMEC/D3 cell lines after treatment of the urban wastewater, but not for L929 fibroblasts.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Early holocenic and historic mtDNA african signatures in the iberian peninsula: The andalusian region as a paradigm

Determining the timing, identity and direction of migrations in the Mediterranean Basin, the role of "migratory routes" in and among regions of Africa, Europe and Asia, and the effects of sex-specific behaviors of population movements have important implications for our understanding of the present human genetic diversity. A crucial component of the Mediterranean world is its westernmost region. Clear features of transcontinental ancient contacts between North African and Iberian populations surrounding the maritime region of Gibraltar Strait have been identified from archeological data. The attempt to discern origin and dates of migration between close geographically related regions has been a challenge in the field of uniparental-based population genetics. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies have been focused on surveying the H1, H3 and V lineages when trying to ascertain north-south migrations, and U6 and L in the opposite direction, assuming that those lineages are good proxies for the ancestry of each side of the Mediterranean. To this end, in the present work we have screened entire mtDNA sequences belonging to U6, M1 and L haplogroups in Andalusians--from Huelva and Granada provinces--and Moroccan Berbers. We present here pioneer data and interpretations on the role of NW Africa and the Iberian Peninsula regarding the time of origin, number of founders and expansion directions of these specific markers. The estimated entrance of the North African U6 lineages into Iberia at 10 ky correlates well with other L African clades, indicating that U6 and some L lineages moved together from Africa to Iberia in the Early Holocene. Still, founder analysis highlights that the high sharing of lineages between North Africa and Iberia results from a complex process continued through time, impairing simplistic interpretations. In particular, our work supports the existence of an ancient, frequently denied, bridge connecting the Maghreb and Andalusia.Financial support was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Competitiveness through Research Project CGL2010-15191/BOS granted to RC and International Mobility Program Acciones Integradas Hispano-Portuguesas (PRI-AIBPT-2011-1004) granted to RC (Spain) and LP (Portugal) (http://www.mineco.gob.es/portal/site/mineco/idi). The E.C. Sixth Framework Programme under Contract n° ERAS-CT-2003-980409 (EUROCORES project of the European Science Foundation) also provided financial support to JMD for North African population research. CLH has a predoctoral fellowship granted by Complutense University. PS is supported by FCT Investigator Programme (IF/01641/2013). IPATIMUP (https://www.ipatimup.pt/) integrates the Instituto the Investigação em Saúde (i3S) Research Unit, which is partially supported by FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. IPATIMUP is funded by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors - COMPETE and National Funds through the FCT - under the project PEst-C/SAU/LA0003/2013. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated with severe tuberculosis evades cytosolic surveillance systems and modulates IL-1β production

Genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis affects immune responses and clinical outcomes of tuberculosis (TB). However, how bacterial diversity orchestrates immune responses to direct distinct TB severities is unknown. Here we study 681 patients with pulmonary TB and show that M. tuberculosis isolates from cases with mild disease consistently induce robust cytokine responses in macrophages across multiple donors. By contrast, bacteria from patients with severe TB do not do so. Secretion of IL-1β is a good surrogate of the differences observed, and thus to classify strains as probable drivers of different TB severities. Furthermore, we demonstrate that M. tuberculosis isolates that induce low levels of IL-1β production can evade macrophage cytosolic surveillance systems, including cGAS and the inflammasome. Isolates exhibiting this evasion strategy carry candidate mutations, generating sigA recognition boxes or affecting components of the ESX-1 secretion system. Therefore, we provide evidence that M. tuberculosis strains manipulate host-pathogen interactions to drive variable TB severities

Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN

Assessing gastro-intestinal related quality of life in cystic fibrosis: Validation of PedsQL GI in children and their parents

Background: Most patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) suffer from pancreatic insufficiency, leading to fat malabsorption, malnutrition and abdominal discomfort. Until recently, no specific tool was available for assessing gastro-intestinal related quality of life (GI QOL) in patients with CF. As the Horizon2020 project MyCyFAPP aims to improve GI QOL by using a newly designed mobile application, a sensitive and reliable outcome measure was needed. We aimed to study the applicability of the existing child-specific Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Gastrointestinal Symptoms Scales and Module (PedsQL GI) in children with CF. Methods: A multicenter, prospective observational study was performed in 6 European centers to validate the PedsQL GI in children with CF during 3 months. Results: In total, 248 children and their parents were included. Within-patient variability of PedsQL GI was low (24.11), and there was reasonable agreement between children and parents (ICC 0.681). Nine of 14 subscales were informative (no ceiling effect). The PedsQL GI and the median scores for 4 subscales were significantly lower in patients compared to healthy controls. Positive associations were found between PedsQL GI and age (OR = 1.044, p = 0.004) and between PedsQL GI and BMI z-score (OR = 1.127, p = 0.036). PedsQL GI correlated with most CFQ-R subscales (r 0.268 to 0.623) and with a Visual Analogue Scale (r = 0.20). Conclusions: PedsQL GI is a valid and applicable instrument to assess GI QOL in children with CF. Future research efforts should examine the responsiveness of the CF PedsQL GI to change in the context of clinical interventions and trials