New Polymers for Needleless Electrospinning from Low-Toxic Solvents.

Wortmann M, Frese N, Sabantina L, et al. New Polymers for Needleless Electrospinning from Low-Toxic Solvents. Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland). 2019;9(1): 52

Air Pollution and Daily Mortality in a City with Low Levels of Pollution

The concentration–response relationship between daily ambient inhalable particle (particulate matter ≤ 10 μm; PM₁₀) concentrations and daily mortality typically shows no evidence of a threshold concentration below which no relationship is observed. However, the power to assess a relationship at very low concentrations of PM₁₀ has been limited in studies to date. The concentrations of PM10 and other air pollutants in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from January 1994 through December 1996 were very low: the 50th and 90th percentiles of daily average PM₁₀ concentrations were 13 and 23 μg/m³, respectively, and 27 and 39 ppb, respectively, for 1-hr maximum ozone. Analyses of 3 years of daily pollution (PM₁₀, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide) concentrations and mortality counts showed that the dominant associations were between ozone and total mortality and respiratory and cardiovascular mortality in the summer, and between nitrogen dioxide and total mortality in the winter, although some association with PM₁₀ may also have been present. We conclude that increases in low concentrations of air pollution are associated with increased daily mortality. These findings may support the notion that no threshold pollutant concentrations are present, but they also raise concern that these effects may not be effects of the measured pollutants themselves, but rather of some other factor(s) present in the air pollution–meteorology mix.Medicine, Faculty ofOccupational and Environmental Hygiene, School ofScience, Faculty ofStatistics, Department ofNon UBCReviewedFacult

Gene families of cuticular proteins analogous to peritrophins (CPAPs) in Tribolium castaneum have diverse functions

Citation: Jasrapuria S, Specht CA, Kramer KJ, Beeman RW, Muthukrishnan S (2012) Gene Families of Cuticular Proteins Analogous to Peritrophins (CPAPs) in Tribolium castaneum Have Diverse Functions. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49844. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049844The functional characterization of an entire class of 17 genes from the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, which encode two families of Cuticular Proteins Analogous to Peritrophins (CPAPs) has been carried out. CPAP genes in T. castaneum are expressed exclusively in cuticle-forming tissues and have been classified into two families, CPAP1 and CPAP3, based on whether the proteins contain either one (CPAP1), or three copies (CPAP3) of the chitin-binding domain, ChtBD2, with its six characteristically spaced cysteine residues. Individual members of the TcCPAP1 and TcCPAP3 gene families have distinct developmental patterns of expression. Many of these proteins serve essential and non-redundant functions in maintaining the structural integrity of the cuticle in different parts of the insect anatomy. Three genes of the TcCPAP1 family and five genes of the TcCPAP3 family are essential for insect development, molting, cuticle integrity, proper locomotion or fecundity. RNA interference (RNAi) targeting TcCPAP1-C, TcCPAP1-H, TcCPAP1-J or TcCPAP3-C transcripts resulted in death at the pharate adult stage of development. RNAi for TcCPAP3-A1, TcCPAP3-B, TcCPAP3-D1 or TcCPAP3-D2 genes resulted in different developmental defects, including adult/embryonic mortality, abnormal elytra or hindwings, or an abnormal ‘stiff-jointed’ gait. These results provide experimental support for specialization in the functions of CPAP proteins in T. castaneum and a biological rationale for the conservation of CPAP orthologs in other orders of insects. This is the first comprehensive functional analysis of an entire class of cuticular proteins with one or more ChtBD2 domains in any insect species

Correlation between Phenotypic and In Silico Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella enterica in Canada Using Staramr

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of Salmonella supports both molecular typing and detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Here, we evaluated the correlation between phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) and in silico prediction of AMR from WGS in Salmonella enterica (n = 1321) isolated from human infections in Canada. Phenotypic AMR results from broth microdilution testing were used as the gold standard. To facilitate high-throughput prediction of AMR from genome assemblies, we created a tool called Staramr, which incorporates the ResFinder and PointFinder databases and a custom gene-drug key for antibiogram prediction. Overall, there was 99% concordance between phenotypic and genotypic detection of categorical resistance for 14 antimicrobials in 1321 isolates (18,305 of 18,494 results in agreement). We observed an average sensitivity of 91.2% (range 80.5–100%), a specificity of 99.7% (98.6–100%), a positive predictive value of 95.4% (68.2–100%), and a negative predictive value of 99.1% (95.6–100%). The positive predictive value of gentamicin was 68%, due to seven isolates that carried aac(3)-IVa, which conferred MICs just below the breakpoint of resistance. Genetic mechanisms of resistance in these 1321 isolates included 64 unique acquired alleles and mutations in three chromosomal genes. In general, in silico prediction of AMR in Salmonella was reliable compared to the gold standard of broth microdilution. WGS can provide higher-resolution data on the epidemiology of resistance mechanisms and the emergence of new resistance alleles