Primer registro de la plaga exótica Sitona discoideus Gyllenhal 1834 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) en Argentina

El gorgojo de la raíz de la alfalfa, Sitona discoideus Gyllenhal 1834 (Curculionidae: Entiminae), es reportado por primera vez en la Argentina. Este gorgojo es nativo del sur de Europa y noreste de África, y fue introducido accidentalmente en Australia, Nueva Zelanda, Estados Unidos y Chile. En Argentina fue colectado en el Alto valle de Río Negro, asociado con plantas de alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.).The alfalfa root weevil Sitona discoideus Gyllenhal 1834 (Curculionidae:Entiminae) is herein reported for the first time for Argentina. This weevil is native to southern Europe and northern Africa and was accidentally introduced in Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, and Chile. In Argentina, it was collected in the Upper valley of Río Negro, associated with alfalfa plants (Medicago sativa L.).Fil: del Rio, Maria Guadalupe. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Lanteri, Analia Alicia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Gittins López, Cecilia Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar Región Patagonia; ArgentinaFil: Rivero, Victoria Ileana. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: González, Diego A.. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: Lopez Armengol, Maria Fernanda. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar Región Patagonia; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Confluencia; Argentin

PSMA-Targeted Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Selective Intracellular Delivery of Docetaxel in Prostate Cancer Cells

[EN] Although docetaxel is currently broadly used in prostate cancer treatment, poor water solubility and systemic toxicity limit the dose and duration of therapy. In this context, although different nanoplatforms have been proposed to overcome these issues, selective therapy needs developing methodologies to target malignant cells and minimizing the impact on healthy tissue. We here present a novel drug delivery system obtained by covalent conjugation of docetaxel and an anti-prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) molecule (anti-FOLH1 monoclonal antibody, clone C803N) over mesoporous silica nanoparticles. This conjugate remains stable in physiological medium and shows high selectivity for LNCaP, a specific cell line that overexpresses PSMA. As a consequence, cell internalization is increased by 25%. Furthermore, cytotoxic activity of the targeted system increases by 2-fold with regard to nontargeted nanoparticles and by 2 orders with regard to the naked drug. Conversely, no targeting effect is observed over PC3, a nonbearing PSMA cell line. We expect that this therapeutic system shows strong potential for treating nonmetastatic prostate cancer, mostly through intraprostatic administration.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (projects MAT2015-66666-C3-2-R, TEC2016-80976-R, and SEV-2016-0683) and the Generalitat Valenciana (project PROMETEO/2017/060) is gratefully acknowledged. We appreciate the assistance of the Electron Microscopy Service of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Rivero-Buceta, EM.; Vidaurre Agut, CM.; Vera Donoso, CD.; Benlloch Baviera, JM.; Moreno Manzano, V.; Botella Asuncion, P. (2019). PSMA-Targeted Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Selective Intracellular Delivery of Docetaxel in Prostate Cancer Cells. ACS Omega. 4(1):1281-1291. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.8b02909S128112914

Longevidad potencial de semillas de Cedrela balansae C.DC. (Cedro Orán)

PosterCedrela balansae es una especie de gran interés forestoindustrial procedente de la zona pedemontana del sector Norte de las Yungas australes. Dado la accesibilidad y el valor su madera se encuentra amenazada por la sobreexplotación de sus poblaciones, por lo que su manejo y conservación in situ y ex situ tienen una alta prioridad. Como varias especies subtropicales, produce semillas ortodoxas, pero su viabilidad se reduce rápidamente en condiciones poco controladas de almacenamiento, lo que dificulta la disponibilidad de semillas de calidad para su uso anualmente. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar los parámetros de la ecuación de viabilidad de Ellis y Roberts (1980), que permitan estimar la longevidad potencial de las semillas almacenadas bajo distintas condiciones de temperatura y contenidos de humedad (CH).Fil: Galíndez, Guadalupe. Universidad Nacional de Salta; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Ana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos. Banco Base de Germoplasma; ArgentinaFil: Ceccato, Diana Valeria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz. Agencia de Extensión Rural San Julián; Argentina.Fil: Suhring, Silvia. Universidad Nacional de Salta; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rivero, María V. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos. Banco Base de Germoplasma; ArgentinaFil: Malagrina, Gisela Marina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos. Banco Base de Germoplasma; ArgentinaFil: Saravia, Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Fornes, Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; Argentin

Efecto de la temperatura, el potencial hídrico y su interacción sobre la germinación de semillas de lapacho rosado (Handroanthus impetiginosus)

PosterUno de los procesos más importantes del ciclo de vida de las plantas es la germinación de las semillas. La temperatura y la disponibilidad de agua son los principales factores ambientales que regulan la germinación de las semillas, afectando tanto el porcentaje final como el tiempo de germinación (Baskin y Baskin, 2014). Para el lapacho rosado (Handroanthus impetiginosus) se ha indicado que las semillas pueden germinar en un amplio rango de temperaturas (15- 40°C) con una temperatura óptima alrededor de los 32°C y que son sensibles al estrés hídrico (hasta -0,6M o -0.8 Mpa; Pastrana-Ignes, 2020). Sin embargo, se ha indicado que ambos factores actuarían de manera independiente sobre la germinación de las semillas, aunque esta interacción ha sido evaluada solo a 25 y 30°C (Valdovinos et al., 2021). El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar el efecto de la temperatura, potencial hídrico y su interacción sobre la germinación de semillas de esta especie, considerando un amplio rango de temperaturas y potenciales hídricos.Instituto de Recursos BiológicosFil: Rivero, María Victoria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos. Banco Base de Germoplasma; Argentina.Fil: Malagrina, Gisela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos. Banco Base de Germoplasma; Argentina.Fil: Alvarez, Ana Carolina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos. Banco Base de Germoplasma; Argentina.Fil: Amarillo, Karina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos. Banco Base de Germoplasma; Argentina.Fil: Fornes, Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Suhring, Silvia. Universidad Nacional de Salta; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Batlla, Diego. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Catedra de Cerealicultura; ArgentinaFil: Galindez, Guadalupe. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales. Laboratorio de Investigaciones Botánicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

Impact of late presentation of HIV infection on short-, mid- and long-term mortality and causes of death in a multicenter national cohort: 2004–2013

SummaryObjectivesTo analyze the impact of late presentation (LP) on overall mortality and causes of death and describe LP trends and risk factors (2004–2013).MethodsCox models and logistic regression were used to analyze data from a nation-wide cohort in Spain. LP is defined as being diagnosed when CD4 < 350 cells/ml or AIDS.ResultsOf 7165 new HIV diagnoses, 46.9% (CI95%:45.7–48.0) were LP, 240 patients died.First-year mortality was the highest (aHRLP.vs.nLP = 10.3[CI95%:5.5–19.3]); between 1 and 4 years post-diagnosis, aHRLP.vs.nLP = 1.9(1.2–3.0); and >4 years, aHRLP.vs.nLP = 1.5(0.7–3.1).First-year's main cause of death was HIV/AIDS (73%); and malignancies among those surviving >4 years (32%). HIV/AIDS-related deaths were more likely in LP (59.2% vs. 25.0%; p < 0.001). LP declined from 55.9% (2004–05) to 39.4% (2012–13), and reduced in 46.1% in men who have sex with men (MSM) and 37.6% in heterosexual men, but increased in 22.6% in heterosexual women.Factors associated with LP: sex (ORMEN.vs.WOMEN = 1.4[1.2–1.7]); age (OR31–40.vs.<30 = 1.6[1.4–1.8], OR41–50.vs.<30 = 2.2[1.8–2.6], OR>50.vs.<30 = 3.6[2.9–4.4]); behavior (ORInjectedDrugUse.vs.MSM = 2.8[2.0–3.8]; ORHeterosexual.vs.MSM = 2.2[1.7–3.0]); education (ORPrimaryEducation.vs.University = 1.5[1.1–2.0], ORLowerSecondary.vs.University = 1.3[1.1–1.5]); and geographical origin (ORSub-Saharan.vs.Spain = 1.6[1.3–2.0], ORLatin-American.vs.Spain = 1.4[1.2–1.8]).ConclusionsLP is associated with higher mortality, especially short-term- and HIV/AIDS-related mortality. Mid-term-, but not long-term mortality, remained also higher in LP than nLP. LP decreased in MSM and heterosexual men, not in heterosexual women. The groups most affected by LP are low educated, non-Spanish and heterosexual women

Raising AWaRe-ness of Antimicrobial Stewardship Challenges in Pediatric Emergency Care: Results from the PERFORM Study Assessing Consistency and Appropriateness of Antibiotic Prescribing Across Europe

Background Optimization of antimicrobial stewardship is key to tackling antimicrobial resistance, which is exacerbated by overprescription of antibiotics in pediatric emergency departments (EDs). We described patterns of empiric antibiotic use in European EDs and characterized appropriateness and consistency of prescribing. Methods Between August 2016 and December 2019, febrile children attending EDs in 9 European countries with suspected infection were recruited into the PERFORM (Personalised Risk Assessment in Febrile Illness to Optimise Real-Life Management) study. Empiric systemic antibiotic use was determined in view of assigned final “bacterial” or “viral” phenotype. Antibiotics were classified according to the World Health Organization (WHO) AWaRe classification. Results Of 2130 febrile episodes (excluding children with nonbacterial/nonviral phenotypes), 1549 (72.7%) were assigned a bacterial and 581 (27.3%) a viral phenotype. A total of 1318 of 1549 episodes (85.1%) with a bacterial and 269 of 581 (46.3%) with a viral phenotype received empiric systemic antibiotics (in the first 2 days of admission). Of those, the majority (87.8% in the bacterial and 87.0% in the viral group) received parenteral antibiotics. The top 3 antibiotics prescribed were third-generation cephalosporins, penicillins, and penicillin/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations. Of those treated with empiric systemic antibiotics in the viral group, 216 of 269 (80.3%) received ≥1 antibiotic in the “Watch” category. Conclusions Differentiating bacterial from viral etiology in febrile illness on initial ED presentation remains challenging, resulting in a substantial overprescription of antibiotics. A significant proportion of patients with a viral phenotype received systemic antibiotics, predominantly classified as WHO Watch. Rapid and accurate point-of-care tests in the ED differentiating between bacterial and viral etiology could significantly improve antimicrobial stewardship

Raising AWaRe-ness of antimicrobial stewardship challenges in pediatric emergency care: results from the PERFORM study assessing consistency and appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing across Europe.

OBJECTIVES Optimization of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is key to tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is exacerbated by over-prescription of antibiotics in pediatric Emergency Departments (EDs). We described patterns of empiric antibiotic use in European EDs, and characterized appropriateness and consistency of prescribing. METHODS Between August 2016 and December 2019 febrile children attending the ED in nine European countries with suspected infection were recruited into the PERFORM (Personalised Risk assessment in Febrile illness to Optimise Real-life Management) study. Empiric systemic antibiotic use was determined in view of assigned final 'bacterial' or 'viral' phenotype. Antibiotics were classified according to WHO AWaRe. RESULTS Of 2130 febrile episodes (excluding children with non-bacterial/non-viral phenotypes), 1549 (72.7%) were assigned a 'bacterial' and 581 (27.3%) a 'viral' phenotype. A total of 1318/1549 (85.1%) episodes with a 'bacterial' and 269/581 (46.3%) with a 'viral' phenotype received empiric systemic antibiotics (first two days of admission). Of those, the majority (87.8% in 'bacterial' and 87.0% in 'viral' group) received parenteral antibiotics. The top three antibiotics prescribed were third-generation cephalosporins, penicillins and penicillin/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations. Of those treated with empiric systemic antibiotics in the 'viral' group 216/269 (80.3%) received ≥ one Watch antibiotic. CONCLUSIONS Differentiating bacterial from viral etiology in febrile illness on initial ED presentation remains challenging, resulting in a substantial over-prescription of antibiotics. A significant proportion of patients with a 'viral' phenotype received systemic antibiotics, predominantly classified as WHO Watch. Rapid and accurate point-of-care tests in the ED differentiating between bacterial and viral etiology, could significantly improve AMS

Frenotomy with breastfeeding support versus breastfeeding support alone for infants with tongue-tie and breastfeeding difficulties: the FROSTTIE RCT

BackgroundTongue-tie can be diagnosed in 3–11% of babies, with some studies reporting almost universal breastfeeding difficulties, and others reporting very few feeding difficulties that relate to the tongue-tie itself, instead noting that incorrect positioning and attachment are the primary reasons behind the observed breastfeeding difficulties and not the tongue-tie itself. The only existing trials of frenotomy are small and underpowered and/or include only very short-term or subjective outcomes.ObjectiveTo investigate whether frenotomy is clinically and cost-effective to promote continuation of breastfeeding at 3 months in infants with breastfeeding difficulties diagnosed with tongue-tie.DesignA multicentre, unblinded, randomised, parallel group controlled trial.SettingTwelve infant feeding services in the UK.ParticipantsInfants aged up to 10 weeks referred to an infant feeding service (by a parent, midwife or other breastfeeding support service) with breastfeeding difficulties and judged to have tongue-tie.InterventionsInfants were randomly allocated to frenotomy with standard breastfeeding support or standard breastfeeding support without frenotomy.Main outcome measuresPrimary outcome was any breastmilk feeding at 3 months according to maternal self-report. Secondary outcomes included mother’s pain, exclusive breastmilk feeding, exclusive direct breastfeeding, frenotomy, adverse events, maternal anxiety and depression, maternal and infant NHS health-care resource use, cost-effectiveness, and any breastmilk feeding at 6 months of age.ResultsBetween March 2019 and November 2020, 169 infants were randomised, 80 to the frenotomy with breastfeeding support arm and 89 to the breastfeeding support arm from a planned sample size of 870 infants. The trial was stopped in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic due to withdrawal of breastfeeding support services, slow recruitment and crossover between arms. In the frenotomy with breastfeeding support arm 74/80 infants (93%) received their allocated intervention, compared to 23/89 (26%) in the breastfeeding support arm. Primary outcome data were available for 163/169 infants (96%). There was no evidence of a difference between the arms in the rate of breastmilk feeding at 3 months, which was high in both groups (67/76, 88% vs. 75/87, 86%; adjusted risk ratio 1.02, 95% confidence interval 0.90 to 1.16). Adverse events were reported for three infants after surgery [bleeding (n = 1), salivary duct damage (n = 1), accidental cut to the tongue and salivary duct damage (n = 1)]. Cost-effectiveness could not be determined with the information available.LimitationsThe statistical power of the analysis was extremely limited due to not achieving the target sample size and the high proportion of infants in the breastfeeding support arm who underwent frenotomy.ConclusionsThis trial does not provide sufficient information to assess whether frenotomy in addition to breastfeeding support improves breastfeeding rates in infants diagnosed with tongue-tie.Future workThere is a clear lack of equipoise in the UK concerning the use of frenotomy, however, the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the procedure still need to be established. Other study designs will need to be considered to address this objective.Trial registrationThis trial is registered as ISRCTN 10268851

A Novel Framework for Phenotyping Children With Suspected or Confirmed Infection for Future Biomarker Studies

Copyright © 2021 Nijman, Oostenbrink, Moll, Casals-Pascual, von Both, Cunnington, De, Eleftheriou, Emonts, Fink, van der Flier, de Groot, Kaforou, Kohlmaier, Kuijpers, Lim, Maconochie, Paulus, Martinon-Torres, Pokorn, Romaine, Calle, Schlapbach, Smit, Tsolia, Usuf, Wright, Yeung, Zavadska, Zenz, Levin, Herberg, Carrol and the PERFORM consortium (Personalized Risk assessment in febrile children to optimize Real-life Management across the European Union).Background: The limited diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers in children at risk of a serious bacterial infection (SBI) might be due to the imperfect reference standard of SBI. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a new classification algorithm for biomarker discovery in children at risk of SBI. Methods: We used data from five previously published, prospective observational biomarker discovery studies, which included patients aged 0– <16 years: the Alder Hey emergency department (n = 1,120), Alder Hey pediatric intensive care unit (n = 355), Erasmus emergency department (n = 1,993), Maasstad emergency department (n = 714) and St. Mary's hospital (n = 200) cohorts. Biomarkers including procalcitonin (PCT) (4 cohorts), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin-2 (NGAL) (3 cohorts) and resistin (2 cohorts) were compared for their ability to classify patients according to current standards (dichotomous classification of SBI vs. non-SBI), vs. a proposed PERFORM classification algorithm that assign patients to one of eleven categories. These categories were based on clinical phenotype, test outcomes and C-reactive protein level and accounted for the uncertainty of final diagnosis in many febrile children. The success of the biomarkers was measured by the Area under the receiver operating Curves (AUCs) when they were used individually or in combination. Results: Using the new PERFORM classification system, patients with clinically confident bacterial diagnosis (“definite bacterial” category) had significantly higher levels of PCT, NGAL and resistin compared with those with a clinically confident viral diagnosis (“definite viral” category). Patients with diagnostic uncertainty had biomarker concentrations that varied across the spectrum. AUCs were higher for classification of “definite bacterial” vs. “definite viral” following the PERFORM algorithm than using the “SBI” vs. “non-SBI” classification; summary AUC for PCT was 0.77 (95% CI 0.72–0.82) vs. 0.70 (95% CI 0.65–0.75); for NGAL this was 0.80 (95% CI 0.69–0.91) vs. 0.70 (95% CI 0.58–0.81); for resistin this was 0.68 (95% CI 0.61–0.75) vs. 0.64 (0.58–0.69) The three biomarkers combined had summary AUC of 0.83 (0.77–0.89) for “definite bacterial” vs. “definite viral” infections and 0.71 (0.67–0.74) for “SBI” vs. “non-SBI.” Conclusion: Biomarkers of bacterial infection were strongly associated with the diagnostic categories using the PERFORM classification system in five independent cohorts. Our proposed algorithm provides a novel framework for phenotyping children with suspected or confirmed infection for future biomarker studies.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Cabbage and fermented vegetables : From death rate heterogeneity in countries to candidates for mitigation strategies of severe COVID-19

Large differences in COVID-19 death rates exist between countries and between regions of the same country. Some very low death rate countries such as Eastern Asia, Central Europe, or the Balkans have a common feature of eating large quantities of fermented foods. Although biases exist when examining ecological studies, fermented vegetables or cabbage have been associated with low death rates in European countries. SARS-CoV-2 binds to its receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). As a result of SARS-CoV-2 binding, ACE2 downregulation enhances the angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT(1)R) axis associated with oxidative stress. This leads to insulin resistance as well as lung and endothelial damage, two severe outcomes of COVID-19. The nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) is the most potent antioxidant in humans and can block in particular the AT(1)R axis. Cabbage contains precursors of sulforaphane, the most active natural activator of Nrf2. Fermented vegetables contain many lactobacilli, which are also potent Nrf2 activators. Three examples are: kimchi in Korea, westernized foods, and the slum paradox. It is proposed that fermented cabbage is a proof-of-concept of dietary manipulations that may enhance Nrf2-associated antioxidant effects, helpful in mitigating COVID-19 severity.Peer reviewe