Frequency and molecular epidemiology of Aspergillus isolated from patients with suspicion of respiratory fungal infection

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of Aspergillus detected in respiratory samples from a cohort of patients with suspicion of fungal infection of the respiratory tract as well as to determine the susceptibility to azoles of the isolates from the Fumigati section. Methods: A retrospective study was performed involving samples obtained from 16 hospitals covering different districts of continental Portugal and Azores islands. One hundred and eighty-seven respiratory samples (101 bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, 52 bronchial lavages, 27 bronchial secretions, 6 expectorations and 1 bronchial aspirate) were collected between November 2011 and December 2017 from a cohort of 146 patients with suspicion of respiratory fungal infection (ages ranging from 20 to 87 years old). Demographic and clinical data were recorded. Detection of Aspergillus was done by culture, immunoenzimatic assay and/or molecular techniques. Aspergillus molecular identification to species level was performed by sequencing of the calmodulin and β-tubulin genes. To detect possible resistance to azoles, isolates belonging to section Fumigati were inoculated into Sabouraud dextrose agar media supplemented with 1 µg/ml or 4 µg/ml of voriconazole, 4 µg/ml of itraconazole and 0.5 µg/ml of posaconazole and their growth was observed and recorded after 7 days of incubation at 27ºC. Doubtful results were confirmed when possible by E-test and by real-time multiplex PCR for the detection of mutations in the Cyp51A gene. Results: Fifty-seven (39.0%) of the studied patients were positive for Aspergillus. From the cases with a positive culture (n=58) the species were identified by sequencing and belonged to six different sections. The most frequently isolated was the section Nigri (42.1%) followed by the Fumigati (33.3%) and Flavi sections (8.6%). Regarding the species, the most frequent was A. niger sensu stricto (33.9%) followed by A. fumigatus sensu stricto (32.1%). Nine cryptic species were also identified which frequency was 21.4%. In order to study the frequency of azole resistance in Fumigati isolates collected from the samples of this cohort as well from other biological products, 52 isolates - Aspergillus fumigatus sensu stricto (n=45), A. lentulus (n=4), A. udagawae (n=2) and A. pseudofelis (n=1) – were tested. The tested A. fumigatus sensu stricto isolates did not show resistance to azoles. An A. udagawae strain revealed low susceptibility to voriconazole (MIC was not determined due to loss of strain viability). An A. pseudofelis strain also showed decreased susceptibility to voriconazole (MIC =1 μg/ml) as well as to and itraconazole (MIC = 2 μg/ml). Conclusion: In this study, the genus Aspergillus was frequently isolated in the respiratory samples tested and a high number of cryptic species was detected. Although resistance to azoles was not a problem identified in the tested isolates, determination of the in vitro susceptibility profile and molecular identification of the Aspergillus species is essential to improve the diagnosis and management of aspergillosis since several cryptic species have intrinsic resistance to antifungal drugs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Geração de cenários de mudança de uso do solo na Amazônia Legal brasileira em função do agronegócio e da aplicação de políticas públicas.

As mudanças climáticas podem afetar a biodiversidade, da mesma forma, a contínua perda da biodiversidade pode, por sua vez, afetar a regulação do clima apresentando graves consequências para o desenvolvimento sustentável e o bem-estar humano. As mudanças no uso da terra, o desmatamento e as mudanças climáticas impactam fortemente o ecossistema da floresta amazônica ameaçando sua resiliência e a sustentabilidade de muitas atividades humanas. Este trabalho descreve a utilização da modelagem dinâmica para gerar cenários de mudança de uso da terra da Amazônia Legal Brasileira, buscando elaborar cenários de mudança de uso/cobertura em função do Agronegócio (agricultura, pastagem e reflorestamento) e considerando o desflorestamento legal, ocasionado pela exploração econômica do território. Os cenários de referência foram baseados nos cenários de desenvolvimento SSP1P, SSP5S e SSP5P do IPCC adapatados a situação de cada estado da Amazônia Legal e considerando-se as políticas brasileiras de desenvolvimento durável, tais como implantação do Plano ABC (Agricultura de Baixo Carbono), código florestal, dentre outras. Este trabalho, ainda em desenvolvimento, é parte do projeto ROBIN ? Role of Biodiversity in Climate Cahnge Mitigation ? financiado pela Comissão Europeia (FP7 ENV. 2011.2.1.4 -1: potencial de biodiversidade e ecossistemas para a mitigação das alterações climáticas), cujo objetivo geral é melhorar a compreensão sobre as relações da biodiversidade com o processo de mitigação de mudança climática

Relationships between health professionals and HIV+ women: A gender-based approach

Objectives: To present the results of a gender-based study focusing on relationships between health professionals and their female HIV+ patients

Definition of requirements to pursue a Servitization Strategy in SME: the case of AMT firms in the Ornamental Stones cluster

The introduction of advanced services in a servitization business model is under close scrutiny for a SME supplying advanced technologies. The proposed conceptual model is based on three cornerstones, i.e. strategy, organizational structure, ICT requirements. It was developed and checked by using data from semi-structured interviews, unstructured observations and documentation surveying. The outcomes significance support the model usefulness within the Ornamental Stones cluster. Virtual Breeding Environments/Virtual Organizations, Digital Business Platforms, Industry4.0 and open innovation appear to be required to leverage progress towards advanced servitization and so, promote competitive advantage and cluster survival. INOVSTONE4.0 illustrates a collaborative initiative within this domain.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

An efficient numerical integration algorithm for the single mode compressible Leonov model – Complas XI

In this contribution, an algorithm for numerical integration of the Leonov elastoviscoplastic model is proposed. The operator split methodology and the Newton-Raphson method are used to derive the state update algorithm and obtain the numerical solution of the discretized evolution equations. Particular effort is devoted to the reduction of the number of required residual equations in order to have a more efficient numerical implementation. The consistent tangent module is expressed in a closed form as a result of the exact linearization of the discretized evolution equations. The performance of the algorithm is validated through comparison with existing experimental data

Determinação eletroanalítica do pesticida paration metílico em eletrodo de carbono vítreo.

bitstream/CNPDIA-2009-09/11854/1/DOC26_2006.pd

Activity of allylisothiocyanate and 2-phenylethylisothiocyanate on motility and biofilm prevention of pathogenic bacteria

Isothiocyanates (ITCs) are plant secondary metabolites with a range of biological effects including antimicrobial activity. This study reports the activity of two ITCs [allylisothiocyanate (AITC) and 2-phenylethylisothiocyanate (PEITC)] on bacterial motility and prevention of biofilm formation by Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. AITC caused total inhibition of swimming (P. aeruginosa) and swarming (E. coli, P. aeruginosa) motilities. PEITC caused total inhibition of swimming (E. coli, P. aeruginosa and L. monocytogenes) and swarming (E. coli and P. aeruginosa) motilities. Colony spreading of S. aureus was completely inhibited with PEITC. Total biofilm prevention was observed for E. coli with AITC. AITC and PEITC had no preventive effects in biofilm formation by S. aureus and L. monocytogenes, respectively. Significant preventive action with AITC on biofilm formation by P. aeruginosa (90%) and by L. monocytogenes (61%), and with PEITC on biofilm formation by S. aureus (75%) was verified. In terms of viability, AITC and PEITC promoted reductions higher than 87% for all the biofilms tested. In conclusion, these molecules demonstrated potential to inhibit bacterial motility and to prevent biofilm formation of pathogenic bacteria

An Application of Combined Neural Networks to Remotely Sensed Images

Studies in the area of pattern recognition have indicated that in most cases a classifier performs differently from one pattern class to another. This observation gave birth to the idea of combining the individual results from different classifiers to derive a consensus decision. This work investigates the potential of combining neural networks to remotely sensed images. A classifier system is built by integrating the results of a plurarity of feed-forward neural networks, each of them designed to have the best performance for one class. Fuzzy Integrals are used as the combining strategy. Experiments carried out to evaluate the system, using a satellite image of an area undergoing a rapid degradation process, have shown that the combination may yield a better performance than that of a single neural network