Phage therapy as a focused management strategy in aquaculture

Therapeutic bacteriophages, commonly called phages, are a promising potential alternative to antibiotics in the management of bacterial infections of a wide range of organisms including cultured fish. Their natural immunogenicity often induces the modulation of a variated collection of immune responses within several types of immunocytes while promoting specific mechanisms of bacterial clearance. However, to achieve standardized treatments at the practical level and avoid possible side effects in cultivated fish, several improvements in the understanding of their biology and the associated genomes are required. Interestingly, a particular feature with therapeutic potential among all phages is the production of lytic enzymes. The use of such enzymes against human and livestock pathogens has already provided in vitro and in vivo promissory results. So far, the best-understood phages utilized to fight against either Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacterial species in fish culture are mainly restricted to the Myoviridae and Podoviridae, and the Siphoviridae, respectively. However, the current functional use of phages against bacterial pathogens of cultured fish is still in its infancy. Based on the available data, in this review, we summarize the current knowledge about phage, identify gaps, and provide insights into the possible bacterial control strategies they might represent for managing aquaculture-related bacterial diseases.publishedVersio

Calculated Forecast for Technical Obsolescence in Computerised Tomography Equipment

Elsevier user license: Permitted: For non-commercial purposes: Read, print & download Text & data mine Translate the article Not Permitted: Reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works Redistribute or republish the final article Sell or re-use for commercial purposesTo estimate the useful life of Computerised Tomography Equipment (CT)Reyes Santias, F.; Vivas Consuelo, DJJ.; Ramos, M. (2012). Calculated Forecast for Technical Obsolescence in Computerised Tomography Equipment. Value in Health. 15(7):A318-A318. doi:10.1016/j.jval.2012.08.710SA318A31815

Importancia de Haematobia irritans en la ganadería bovina de México: Situación actual y perspectivas. Revisión

The horn fly Haematobia irritans is a cosmopolitan hematophagous ectoparasite of great importance in livestock. In Mexico, H. irritans is distributed across the country, and is found during the whole year. The fluctuation of H. irritans population is related with climate conditions. Despite its wide distribution, the effects on animal health, and its negative impact on meat and milk production, little data exists on its infestation and epidemiology is limited. This paper is a review on the current situation of H. irritans in cattle in Mexico, its economic impact, control methods, perspectives, and research opportunities.La mosca de los cuernos Haematobia irritans es un ectoparásito hematófago cosmopolita de gran importancia en la ganadería. En México, H. irritans se distribuye por todo el país y se encuentra durante todo el año. La fluctuación de la población de H. irritans está relacionada con las condiciones climáticas. A pesar de su amplia distribución, los efectos sobre la salud animal y su impacto negativo en la producción de carne y leche, existen pocos datos sobre su infestación y su epidemiología es limitada. Este trabajo es una revisión sobre la situación actual de H. irritans en bovinos en México, su impacto económico, métodos de control, perspectivas y oportunidades de investigación

Acinetobacter Baumannii Maintains Its Virulence After Long-Time Starvation

Acinetobacter baumannii is a cause of healthcare-associated infections. Although A. baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen, its infections are notoriously difficult to treat due to intrinsic and acquired antimicrobial resistance, often limiting effective therapeutic options. A. baumannii can survive for long periods in the hospital environment, particularly on inanimate surfaces. Such environments may act as a reservoir for cross-colonization and infection outbreaks and should be considered a substantial factor in infection control practices. Moreover, clothing of healthcare personnel and gadgets may play a role in the spread of nosocomial bacteria. A link between contamination of hospital surfaces and A. baumannii infections or between its persistence in the environment and its virulence has not yet been established. Bacteria under stress (i.e., long-term desiccation in hospital setting) could conserve factors that favor infection. To investigate whether desiccation and/or starvation may be involved in the ability of certain strains of A. baumannii to retain virulence factors, we have studied five well-characterized clinical isolates of A. baumannii for which survival times were determined under simulated hospital conditions. Despite a considerable reduction in the culturability over time (up to 88% depending on strain and the condition tested), some A. baumannii strains were able to maintain their ability to form biofilms after rehydration, addition of nutrients, and changing temperature. Also, after long-term desiccation, several clinical strains were able to grow in the presence of non-immune human serum as fine as their non-stressed homologs. Furthermore, we also show that the ability of bacterial strains to kill Galleria mellonella larvae does not change although A. baumannii cells were stressed by long-term starvation (up to 60 days). This means that A. baumannii can undergo a rapid adaptation to both the temperature shift and nutrients availability, conditions that can be easily found by bacteria in a new patient in the hospital setting.Research in our laboratory is supported by the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (grant PI16/01103 to José Ramos-Vivas) and the Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008-2011 and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD12/0015) - co-financed by European Development Regional Fund "A way to achieve Europe" ERDF. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Facile fabrication of poly(e-caprolactone)/graphene oxide membranes for bioreactors in tissue engineering

Promising polymer membranes of blended biocompatible poly(ε-caprolactone) and graphene oxide (PCL/GO) and PCL and partially reduced graphene oxide (PCL/rGO) with outstanding water and nutrient transport properties for cell culture bioreactors were prepared using phase inversion at mild temperatures. Some of the prepared PCL/GO membranes were subjected to a 'chemical-free' GO post-reductive process using UV (PCL/GO/UV) irradiation. The PCL/rGO membranes exhibited 2.5 times higher flux than previously reported biocompatible polymer membranes for cell culture bioreactors, which was attributed to the highly interconnected porosity. On the other hand, the formation of PCL-graphene oxide composites in the PCL/GO and PCL/GO/UV membranes was not conclusive according to spectroscopic analyses, thermal analyses and mechanical characterization, probably due to the low graphene oxide loading in the membranes (0.1%w/w). The presence of graphene oxide-based nanomaterials in the polymer matrix slightly reduced the mechanical properties of the PCL-graphene oxide membranes by limiting the polymer chain mobility in comparison to that of the plain PCL membranes. However, their mechanical stability was sufficient for the applications pursued. Finally, the biocompatibility assay indicated that the incorporation of GO and rGO into the PCL matrix enhanced the uniform distribution and morphology of the glioblastoma cells on the surface of the PCL-graphene oxide membranes.Financial support of the Cantabria Explora call through project JP03.640.69 is gratefully acknowledged

Probabilistic study of the effect of anti-epileptic drugs under uncertainty: Cost-effectiveness analysis

[EN] Epilepsy is one of the most ancient diseases. Despite the efforts of scientists and doctors to improve the quality of live of epileptic patients, the disease is still a mystery in many senses. Anti-epileptic drugs are fundamental to reduce epileptic seizures but it have some adverse effects, which influence the quality of life outcomes of the patients. In this paper, we study the effectiveness of anti-epileptic drugs taking into account the inherent uncertainty. We establish a model, which allows to represent the natural history of epilepsy, using Markov chains. After randomizing the mathematical model, we compute the first probability density function of the solution stochastic process applying the random variable transformation technique.We also take advantage of this method to determine the distribution of some key quantities in medical decision, such as the time until a certain proportion of the population remains in each state and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. The study is completed computing all these quantities using data available in the literature. In addition, regarding the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, different third generation anti-epileptic treatments are compared with the Brivaracetam, a new third generation anti-epileptic drug.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO), the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER UE) grant MTM2017-89664-P. Computations have been carried thanks to the collaboration of Raul San Julian Garces and Elena Lopez Navarro granted by European Union through the Operational Program of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)/European Social Fund (ESF) of the Valencian Community 2014-2020, grants GJIDI/2018/A/009 and GJIDI/2018/A/010, respectively.Barrachina Martínez, I.; Navarro-Quiles, A.; Ramos, M.; Romero, J.; Roselló, M.; Vivas-Consuelo, D. (2020). Probabilistic study of the effect of anti-epileptic drugs under uncertainty: Cost-effectiveness analysis. Mathematics. 8(7):1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/math8071120S11987García-Ramos, R., García Pastor, A., Masjuan, J., Sánchez, C., & Gil, A. (2011). FEEN report on epilepsy in Spain. Neurología (English Edition), 26(9), 548-555. doi:10.1016/j.nrleng.2011.03.004Epilepsy http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs999/en/Población Estimada en España http://www.ine.es/inebaseDYN/cp30321Duncan, J. S., Sander, J. W., Sisodiya, S. M., & Walker, M. C. (2006). Adult epilepsy. The Lancet, 367(9516), 1087-1100. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(06)68477-8Brodie, M. J. (2015). Practical Use of Newer Antiepileptic Drugs as Adjunctive Therapy in Focal Epilepsy. CNS Drugs, 29(11), 893-904. doi:10.1007/s40263-015-0285-4EPARs for Authorised Medicinal Products for Human Use Stelara http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/Humans/EPAR/stelara/stelara.htmKristian, B., Wachtmeister, K., Stefan, F., & Forsgren, L. (2013). Retigabine as add-on treatment of refractory epilepsy - a cost-utility study in a Swedish setting. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 127(6), 419-426. doi:10.1111/ane.12077Martyn-St James, M., Glanville, J., McCool, R., Duffy, S., Cooper, J., Hugel, P., & Lane, P. W. (2012). The efficacy and safety of retigabine and other adjunctive treatments for refractory partial epilepsy: A systematic review and indirect comparison. Seizure, 21(9), 665-678. doi:10.1016/j.seizure.2012.07.011Cortés, J.-C., Navarro-Quiles, A., Romero, J.-V., & Roselló, M.-D. (2017). Randomizing the parameters of a Markov chain to model the stroke disease: A technical generalization of established computational methodologies towards improving real applications. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 324, 225-240. doi:10.1016/j.cam.2017.04.040Sonnenberg, F. A., & Beck, J. R. (1993). Markov Models in Medical Decision Making. Medical Decision Making, 13(4), 322-338. doi:10.1177/0272989x9301300409Barrachina-Martínez, I., Vivas-Consuelo, D., & Piera-Balbastre, A. (2017). Budget Impact Analysis of Brivaracetam Adjunctive Therapy for Partial-Onset Epileptic Seizures in Valencia Community, Spain. Clinical Drug Investigation, 38(4), 353-363. doi:10.1007/s40261-017-0615-zSullivan, S. D., Mauskopf, J. A., Augustovski, F., Jaime Caro, J., Lee, K. M., Minchin, M., … Shau, W.-Y. (2014). Budget Impact Analysis—Principles of Good Practice: Report of the ISPOR 2012 Budget Impact Analysis Good Practice II Task Force. Value in Health, 17(1), 5-14. doi:10.1016/j.jval.2013.08.2291Cortés, J.-C., Navarro-Quiles, A., Romero, J.-V., & Roselló, M.-D. (2018). Some results about randomized binary Markov chains: theory, computing and applications. International Journal of Computer Mathematics, 97(1-2), 141-156. doi:10.1080/00207160.2018.1440290Prieto, L., Sacristán, J. A., Antoñanzas, F., Rubio-Terrés, C., Pinto, J. L., & Rovira, J. (2004). Análisis coste-efectividad en la evaluación económica de intervenciones sanitarias. Medicina Clínica, 122(13), 505-510. doi:10.1016/s0025-7753(04)74288-8Karlsson, G., & Johannesson, M. (1996). The Decision Rules of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. PharmacoEconomics, 9(2), 113-120. doi:10.2165/00019053-199609020-00003Mulhern, B., Rowen, D., Snape, D., Jacoby, A., Marson, T., Hughes, D., … Brazier, J. (2014). Valuations of epilepsy-specific health states: a comparison of patients with epilepsy and the general population. Epilepsy & Behavior, 36, 12-17. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2014.04.011BOT Base de Datos del Medicamento https://botplusweb.portalfarma.com/Informe de Posicionamiento Terapéutico de Brivaracetam (Briviact) en Epilepsia https://www.aemps.gob.es/medicamentosUsoHumano/informesPublicos/docs/IPTbrivaracetam-Briviact-epilepsia.pdfSacristán, J. A., Oliva, J., Del Llano, J., Prieto, L., & Pinto, J. L. (2002). ¿Qué es una tecnología sanitaria eficiente en España? Gaceta Sanitaria, 16(4), 334-343. doi:10.1016/s0213-9111(02)71933-xBertram, M. Y., Lauer, J. A., De Joncheere, K., Edejer, T., Hutubessy, R., Kieny, M.-P., & Hill, S. R. (2016). Cost–effectiveness thresholds: pros and cons. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 94(12), 925-930. doi:10.2471/blt.15.16441

Gene expression profiling in human neutrophils after infection with Acinetobacter baumannii in vitro

Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram negative nosocomial pathogen that has acquired increasing worldwide notoriety due to its high antibiotic resistance range and mortality rates in hospitalized patients. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand key aspects of A. baumannii pathogenesis such as host-pathogen interactions. In this report, we analyzed both gene expression and cytokine production by human neutrophils infected with A. baumannii. Our assays reveal a proinflammatory response of neutrophils after A. baumannii infection, since intracellular transcription of effector proteins such as COX-2, transcription factors, and proinflammatory cytokines resulted significantly upregulated in neutrophils infected by A. baumannii, compared with unstimulated human neutrophils. Translation and release of CXCL-8, IL-1? and TNF-? by neutrophils was confirmed by protein quantification in culture supernatants. Results obtained in this report reinforce the importance of human neutrophils in controlling A. baumannii infections but also emphasize the proinflammatory nature of these host-pathogen interactions as a target for future immunomodulatory therapies

Factors affecting mass transport properties of poly(Ɛ-caprolactone) membranes for tissue engineering bioreactors

High porosity and mass transport properties of microfiltration polymeric membranes benefit nutrients supply to cells when used as scaffolds in interstitial perfusion bioreactors for tissue engineering. High nutrients transport is assumed when pore size and porosity of the membrane are in the micrometric range. The present work demonstrates that the study of membrane fouling by proteins present in the culture medium, though not done usually, should be included in the routine testing of new polymer membranes for this intended application. Two poly(ε-caprolactone) microfiltration membranes presenting similar average pore size (approximately 0.7 µm) and porosity (>80%) but different external surface porosity and pore size have been selected as case studies. The present work demonstrates that a membrane with lower surface pore abundance and smaller external pore size (approximately 0.67 µm), combined with adequate hydrodynamics and tangential flow filtration mode is usually more convenient to guarantee high flux of nutrients. On the contrary, having large external pore size (approximately 1.70 µm) and surface porosity would incur important internal protein fouling that could not be prevented with the operation mode and hydrodynamics of the perfusion system. Additionally, the use of glycerol in the drying protocols of the membranes might cause plasticization and a consequent reduction of mass transport properties due to membrane compaction by the pressure exerted to force perfusion. Therefore, preferentially, drying protocols that omit the use of plasticizing agents are recommended.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, SPAIN-FEDER 2014–2020) through project CTM2016-75509-R

Antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacter cloacae complex strains isolated from fresh vegetables intended for raw consumption and their farm environments in the Northwest of Spain

[EN] Antimicrobial resistance is a global concern with significant public health implications. We investigated the role of fresh vegetables and their cultivation environments as reservoirs for antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacter cloacae complex (ECC) strains. The study focused on AmpC-producing ECC isolates and their resistance to colistin, a last resort antibiotic. AmpC-producing ECC isolates were detected and confirmed in 10.2% of the 235 samples examined, with no significant difference (p > 0.05) in prevalence between farm and street market samples. Further analysis of 24 AmpC-ECC isolates revealed that 16.7% exhibited resistance to colistin. A colistin-resistant E. kobei strain (AG07E) was detected in irrigation water from a vegetable farm for the first time in Spain. This strain carried the mcr-9.1 gene, demonstrating transferability. It was included in ST56 which is predominantly reported in clinical E. kobei harbouring the mcr-9 gene. Additionally, we identified a multidrugresistant E. kobei strain (ZA03E) from carrot samples, exhibiting colistin resistance and potential human pathogenicity. This strain belonged to ST125 which has clonal relationships with strains in ST56. Our findings emphasise the importance of monitoring and addressing antimicrobial-resistant ECC strains in fresh vegetables and their production environments, particularly the water, to mitigate potential risks to public health from a One Health perspective.SIAgencia Estatal de Investigació