Distinction among the puparia of three blowfly species (Diptera: Calliphoridae) frequently found on unburied corpses

Calliphorid larvae are important in the decomposition of carrion. Since these larvae are present in the primary stages of succession on carcasses, they may be important indicators of death time and the movement of corpses in homicide investigations. In this study we examined the morphological differences among puparia of Chrysomya megacephala, C. putoria and Cochliomyia macellaria. Puparia of the three species (N=30, each) were obtained from the F2 generation bred in culture medium at 25° C, and 60% relative humidity on a 12 h photoperiod. The interspecific differences found were related to the conspicuousness of six tubercles located in the region near the posterior spiracles and to the distance between the two peritrema involving the spiracles. The latter were (mean ± SD) 15.2 ± 3.1 mum for C. megacephala, 18.8 ± 2.8 mum for C. putoria and 16.5 ± 3.5 mum for C. macellaria. The results of the present study may be useful in forensic entomology.78178

Low Ten-eleven-translocation 2 (tet2) Transcript Level Is Independent Of Tet2 Mutation In Patients With Myeloid Neoplasms

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)New sequencing technologies have enabled the identification of mutations in Ten-eleven-translocation 2 (TET2), an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of 5-methylcytosine into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) in myeloid neoplasms. We have recently identified reduced TET2 mRNA expression in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is associated with a poor overall survival in MDS. We herein aimed to investigate TET2 mutations and their impact on TET2 expression in a cohort of patients with myeloid neoplasms, including MDS and AML patients. Findings: TET2 mutations were observed in 8 out of 19 patients (42 %) with myeloid neoplasms. The TET2 expression profile was similar between in wild type and in TET2 mutated patients. Conclusion: Our results suggest that TET2 expression is reduced in MDS/AML patients, independently of mutational status.11Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) [610021/2009-5, 2011/51959-0, 2011/15905-3, 2012/09982-8]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

The unique regulation of iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis in a Gram-positive bacterium

Iron-sulfur clusters function as cofactors of a wide range of proteins, with diverse molecular roles in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Dedicated machineries assemble the clusters and deliver them to the final acceptor molecules in a tightly regulated process. In the prototypical Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, the two existing iron-sulfur cluster assembly systems, iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) and sulfur assimilation (SUF) pathways, are closely interconnected. The ISC pathway regulator, IscR, is a transcription factor of the helix-turn-helix type that can coordinate a [2Fe-2S] cluster. Redox conditions and iron or sulfur availability modulate the ligation status of the labile IscR cluster, which in turn determines a switch in DNA sequence specificity of the regulator: cluster-containing IscR can bind to a family of gene promoters (type-1) whereas the clusterless form recognizes only a second group of sequences (type-2). However, iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis in Gram-positive bacteria is not so well characterized, and most organisms of this group display only one of the iron-sulfur cluster assembly systems. A notable exception is the unique Gram-positive dissimilatory metal reducing bacterium Thermincola potens, where genes from both systems could be identified, albeit with a diverging organization from that of Gram-negative bacteria. We demonstrated that one of these genes encodes a functional IscR homolog and is likely involved in the regulation of iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis in T. potens. Structural and biochemical characterization of T. potens and E. coli IscR revealed a strikingly similar architecture and unveiled an unforeseen conservation of the unique mechanism of sequence discrimination characteristic of this distinctive group of transcription regulators.We thank Jorge Vieira for help with Automatic Detection of Positively Selected Sites. We acknowledge the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) for provision of synchrotron radiation facilities and thank the ESRF staff for help with data collection. Microscale thermophoresis data collection was carried out at the Campus Science Support Facilities Protein Technologies Facility (www.csf.ac.at). This work was funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through the Operational Competitiveness Programme-COMPETE and by national funds through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia under project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028116 (PTDC/BBB - BEP/2127/2012) and PhD Fellowship SFRH/BD/66461/2009 (to J.A.S.). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under BioStruct-X (Grant Agreement 283570)

New Acrylic Monolithic Carbon Molecular Sieves for O2/N2 and CO2/CH4 Separations

The modification of activated carbon fibres prepared from a commercial textile acrylic fibre into materials with monolithic shape using phenolic resin as binder was studied. The molecular sieving properties for the gas separations CO2/CH4 and O2/N2 were evaluated from the gas uptake volume and selectivity at 100 s contact time taken from the kinetic adsorption curves of the individual gases. The pseudo-first order rate constant was also determined by the application of the LDF model. The samples produced show high CO2 and O2 rates of adsorption, in the range 3–35 · 10_3 s_1, and in most cases null or very low adsorption of CH4 and N2 which make them very promising samples to use in PSA systems, or similar. Although the selectivity was very high, the adsorption capacity was low in certain cases. However, the gas uptake in two samples reached 23 cm3 g_1 for CO2 and 5 cm3 g_1 for O2, which can be considered very good. The materials were heat-treated using a microwave furnace, which is a novel and more economic method, when compared with conventional furnaces, to improve the molecular sieves properties

Molecular fingerprints for a novel enzyme family in actinobacteria with glucosamine kinase activity

Actinobacteria have long been the main source of antibiotics, secondary metabolites with tightly controlled biosynthesis by environmental and physiological factors. Phosphorylation of exogenous glucosamine has been suggested as a mechanism for incorporation of this extracellular material into secondary metabolite biosynthesis, but experimental evidence of specific glucosamine kinases in Actinobacteria is lacking. Here, we present the molecular fingerprints for the identification of a unique family of actinobacterial glucosamine kinases. Structural and biochemical studies on a distinctive kinase from the soil bacterium Streptacidiphilus jiangxiensis unveiled its preference for glucosamine and provided structural evidence of a phosphoryl transfer to this substrate. Conservation of glucosamine-contacting residues across a large number of uncharacterized actinobacterial proteins unveiled a specific glucosamine binding sequence motif. This family of kinases and their genetic context may represent the missing link for the incorporation of environmental glucosamine into the antibiotic biosynthesis pathways in Actinobacteria and can be explored to enhance antibiotic production. IMPORTANCE The discovery of novel enzymes involved in antibiotic biosynthesis pathways is currently a topic of utmost importance. The high levels of antibiotic resistance detected worldwide threaten our ability to combat infections and other 20th-century medical achievements, namely, organ transplantation or cancer chemotherapy. We have identified and characterized a unique family of enzymes capable of phosphorylating glucosamine to glucosamine-6-phosphate, a crucial molecule directly involved in the activation of antibiotic production pathways in Actinobacteria, nature’s main source of antimicrobials. The consensus sequence identified for these glucosamine kinases will help establish a molecular fingerprint to reveal yet-uncharacterized sequences in antibiotic producers, which should have an important impact in biotechnological and biomedical applications, including the enhancement and optimization of antibiotic production.We acknowledge the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France) for provision of synchrotron radiation facilities and thank their staff for help with data collection. Part of these experiments were performed at beamline BL13-XALOC of ALBA Synchrotron (Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain), with the collaboration of ALBA staff and CALIPSOplus (grant 730872) funding. The support of the X-ray Crystallography Scientific Platform of i3S (Porto, Portugal) is also acknowledged. We thank Pedro Lamosa from CERMAX, ITQB-NOVA (Oeiras, Portugal), for acquiring and interpreting the NMR data. This work was supported by the Structured Program on Bioengineered Therapies for Infectious Diseases and Tissue Regeneration (Norte-01-0145-FEDER-‏000‏012), funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) and by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020-Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior in the framework of project Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274) and also by grants UID/NEU/04539/2019 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029221. D.N.-C. acknowledges the European Regional Development Fund (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000012-ealthyAging2020) for a research fellowship and FCT for Ph‏D f‏ellowship SFRH/BD/117777/2016

Impact of antibiotic therapy in severe community-acquired pneumonia: Data from the Infauci study

Antibiotic therapy (AT) is the cornerstone of the management of severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). However, the best treatment strategy is far from being established. To evaluate the impact of different aspects of AT on the outcome of critically ill patients with CAP, we performed a post hoc analysis of all CAP patients enrolled in a prospective, observational, multicentre study. Of the 502 patients included, 76% received combination therapy, mainly a β-lactam with a macrolide (80%). AT was inappropriate in 16% of all microbiologically documented CAP (n=177). Hospital and 6months mortality were 34% and 35%. In adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis, combination AT with a macrolide was independently associated with a reduction in hospital (OR 0.17, 95%CI 0.06-0.51) and 6months (OR 0.21, 95%CI 0.07-0.57) mortality. Prolonged AT (>7days) was associated with a longer ICU (14 vs. 7days; p7days had no survival benefit and was associated with a longer LOS.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Diffusion-weighted MR imaging findings in an isolated abscess of the clivus

We report the finding of restricted diffusion in an isolated abscess of the clivus and discuss the imaging differential diagnosis, with an emphasis on the usefulness of diffusion-weighted imaging

Cost effectiveness of outpatient lumbar discectomy

Background: Microdiscectomy is the most commonly performed spine surgery and the first transitioning for outpatient settings. However, this transition was never studied, in what comes to cost-utility assessment. Accordingly, this economic study aims to access the cost-effectiveness of outpatient lumbar microdiscectomy when compared with the inpatient procedure. Methods: This is a cost utility study, adopting the hospital perspective. Direct medical costs were retrieved from the assessment of 20 patients undergoing outpatient lumbar microdiscectomy and 20 undergoing inpatient lumbar microdiscectomy Quality-adjusted life-years were calculated from Oswestry Disability Index values (ODI). ODI was prospectively assessed in outpatients in pre and 3- and 6-month post-operative evaluations. Inpatient ODI data were estimated from a meta-analysis. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) calculated. Results: Outpatient procedure was cost-saving in all models tested. At 3-month assessment ICER ranged from €135,753 to €345,755/QALY, higher than the predefined threshold of €60,000/QALY gained. At 6-month costs were lower and utilities were higher in outpatient, overpowering the inpatient procedure. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that in 65% to 73% of simulations outpatient was the better option. The savings with outpatient were about 55% of inpatient values, with similar utility scores. No 30-day readmissions were recorded in either group. Conclusion: This is the first economic study on cost-effectiveness of outpatient lumbar microdiscectomy, showing a significant reduction in costs, with a similar clinical outcome, proving it cost-effective

Fatty Acid Profile and Bioactivity from Annona hypoglauca Seeds Oil

Plants from Annona (Annonaceae) genus are present in tropical regions, where they have economic and medicinal potential. Information on the fatty acids profile and bioactivity from seed oil of Annona species are incipient. The objective of this work was to investigate Annona hypoglauca seeds oil in terms of its yield, composition and biological activity (acetylcholinesterase enzyme inhibition, bactericidal and fungicidal activity). Fatty acids profiles were determined by Gas Chromatography equipped with Flame Ionization Detector. Oil yield reached about 15% and the major constituents detected were ω-9 oleic acid (42.65%) and ω-6 linoleic acid (29.63%). A. hypoglauca oil was potent for acetylcholinesterase inhibition (79.55%), and presented high and selective bioactivity against Candida albicans.Keywords: Annona hypoglauca, ω-9 Oleic Acid, ω-6 Linoleic Acid, Acetylcholinesterase, Candida albican