Novel Human Astroviruses: Prevalence and Association with Common Enteric Viruses in Undiagnosed Gastroenteritis Cases in Spain

Adenovirus; Children; Classic astrovirusAdenovirus; Nens; Astrovirus clàssicAdenovirus; Niños; Astrovirus clásicoA remarkable percentage of acute gastroenteritis cases remain etiologically undiagnosed. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of common and emerging enteric viruses, such as novel human astroviruses, among undiagnosed samples from children with acute gastroenteritis. Epidemiological studies for novel human astroviruses are still scarce. Stool samples collected over two consecutive winter seasons (2016-2017) from children with gastroenteritis in Spain, which were negative for bacteria, rotavirus, and adenovirus by routine diagnostics were screened by real-time RT-PCR assays for the presence of classical and novel astrovirus, rotavirus, norovirus GI and GII, sapovirus, and adenovirus. Overall, 220/384 stool samples (57.3%) were positive for at least one virus. Co-infections were identified in 21% of cases. Among a total of 315 viruses identified, adenovirus was the most prevalent (n = 103), followed by rotavirus (n = 51), sapovirus (n = 50), classical astrovirus (n = 43), novel astroviruses (n = 42), and norovirus (n = 26). Novel astroviruses were present in 13.3% of virus-positive cases. Most novel astroviruses were found in children <2-year-old (30/39 children, 77%, p = 0.01) and were found in co-infection (66%). Only classical astroviruses demonstrated significant differences in the Cq values during mono-infections compared to co-infections. In conclusion, common enteric viruses may be frequently found in children with undiagnosed gastroenteritis, indicating the need to implement more sensitive diagnostic methods. Novel astroviruses circulate in the community and could be the cause of gastroenteritis among young children.Supported in part by the Biotechnology Reference Network (XRB) program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. This work was also supported in part by the Certest Biotec Company. Diem-Lan Vu was recipient of a fellowship from the Geneva University Hospital

Novel Human Astroviruses: Prevalence and Association with Common Enteric Viruses in Undiagnosed Gastroenteritis Cases in Spain

A remarkable percentage of acute gastroenteritis cases remain etiologically undiagnosed. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of common and emerging enteric viruses, such as novel human astroviruses, among undiagnosed samples from children with acute gastroenteritis. Epidemiological studies for novel human astroviruses are still scarce. Stool samples collected over two consecutive winter seasons (2016-2017) from children with gastroenteritis in Spain, which were negative for bacteria, rotavirus, and adenovirus by routine diagnostics were screened by real-time RT-PCR assays for the presence of classical and novel astrovirus, rotavirus, norovirus GI and GII, sapovirus, and adenovirus. Overall, 220/384 stool samples (57.3%) were positive for at least one virus. Co-infections were identified in 21% of cases. Among a total of 315 viruses identified, adenovirus was the most prevalent (n = 103), followed by rotavirus (n = 51), sapovirus (n = 50), classical astrovirus (n = 43), novel astroviruses (n = 42), and norovirus (n = 26). Novel astroviruses were present in 13.3% of virus-positive cases. Most novel astroviruses were found in children <2-year-old (30/39 children, 77%, p = 0.01) and were found in co-infection (66%). Only classical astroviruses demonstrated significant differences in the Cq values during mono-infections compared to co-infections. In conclusion, common enteric viruses may be frequently found in children with undiagnosed gastroenteritis, indicating the need to implement more sensitive diagnostic methods. Novel astroviruses circulate in the community and could be the cause of gastroenteritis among young children

Objetivos del proyecto ECOPHYN: Ecofisiología de la alimentación y la nutrición del pulpo común

Trabajo presentado en el XXV FOROACUI Foro de los recursos marinos y de la acuicultura de las rías gallegas, celebrado en Pontevedra (España) del 05 al 06 de junio de 2022.Los pulpos tienen un papel relevante en las cadenas tróficas de los ecosistemas marinos de todo el mundo, representando un recurso pesquero de gran importancia y una especie prometedora para la acuicultura. El pulpo común, Octopus vulgaris, es la especie de pulpo con mayor interés comercial en todo el mundo; sin embargo, la producción pesquera no será suficiente para cubrir la demanda del mercado en un futuro próximo. En este contexto, los esfuerzos se han dirigido a la producción sostenible de esta especie tanto desde la acuicultura como desde la pesca. En los últimos años se han producido avances relevantes en estos ámbitos, entre los que se encuentran las aportaciones de nuestros grupos de investigación, que han despejado el camino para una mejor comprensión de su papel en el medio natural, la pesca y la futura producción acuícola de esta especie. La alimentación y la nutrición son factores clave para entender los requisitos ecofisiológicos de los pulpos tanto en el campo como en condiciones de cultivo. De hecho, nuestros estudios previos identificaron un importante desconocimiento en su fisiología nutricional, lo que todavía dificulta su producción acuícola y la comprensión de su papel como depredador en los sistemas marinos. También hay que tener en cuenta que la mayor parte de los conocimientos sobre su fisiología y comportamiento se han obtenido básicamente de individuos subadultos y adultos y que existe mucha menos información sobre la fase de transición entre las paralarvas planctónicas y las fases bentónicas, la fase juvenil, en el medio natural y en condiciones de cultivo, debido a las dificultades para obtener estas primeras fases de vida en cantidades suficientes. El presente proyecto pretende abordar esta falta de conocimiento, estudiando la ecofisiología de la alimentación y la nutrición en O. vulgaris a lo largo de su desarrollo, con especial énfasis en estas fases tempranas antes mencionadas. Nuestra hipótesis general de trabajo propone que la mejora del conocimiento de la fisiología nutricional de esta especie tendrá un impacto significativo en la futura gestión y desarrollo de este recurso comercial. Más concretamente, nuestra propuesta pretende profundizar en la digestión, metabolismo y nutricion del pulpo mediante la caracterización de los ritmos endógenos, el proceso de digestión, las vías metabólicas, el microbioma, la firma isotópica y la microquímica, así como la identificación de biomarcadores vinculados a la respuesta inmune, la salud y el bienestar en tejidos seleccionados del pulpo. Esta investigación se llevará a cabo a lo largo del desarrollo del pulpo, utilizando diferentes enfoques y las técnicas más recientes, incluidas las herramientas "ómicas". La generación de este nuevo conocimiento sentará las bases para una mejora en la explotación racional de este recurso tanto a nivel de su acuicultura y bienestar animal como para el conocimiento del papel de la especie en su medio natural

A Spanish case-control study in <5 year-old children reveals the lack of association between MLB and VA astrovirus and diarrhea

Novel human astroviruses (HAstV) were discovered 10 years ago and have been associated with fatal cases of central nervous system infections. Their role in gastroenteritis is controversial, as they have been identified in symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects. The aim of the study was to investigate novel HAstV in a gastroenteritis case-control study including a pediatric population in Spain over a one-year period. We included stool samples from patients with gastroenteritis and negative results for viruses screened by routine diagnostics, and stool samples of control subjects who sought for a routine medical consultation. All samples were screened by real-time RT-PCR assays for novel HAstV. An additional screening for rotavirus, norovirus GI, GII, sapovirus, classic HAstV and adenovirus was also performed for the control group. Overall, 23/363 stool samples from case patients (6.3%) and 8/199 stool samples from control patients (4%) were positive for ≥1 novel HAstV. MLB1 was predominant (64.5% of positives). Seasonality was observed for the case group (p = 0.015), but not the control group (p = 0.95). No difference was observed in the prevalence of novel HAstV between the case and control groups (OR 1.78, 95% CI 0.68-5.45; p = 0.30). Nevertheless, MLB genome copy numbers/ml of fecal suspension was significantly higher in the control group than in the case group (p = 0.008). In our study, we identified a lack of association between novel HAstV and gastroenteritis in the studied population, which could indicate a potential role of reservoir for children, especially given the higher viral load observed in the asymptomatic group for some of them

Mapping the scientific structure of organization and management of enterprises using complex networks

Understanding the scientific and social structure of a discipline is a fundamental aspect for scientific evaluation processes, identifying trends and niches, and balancing the trade-off between exploitation and exploration in research. In the present contribution, the production of doctoral theses is used as a proxy to analyze the scientific structure of the knowledge area of business organization in Spain. To that end, a complex networks approach is selected, and two different networks are built: (i) the social network of co-participation in thesis examining committees and thesis supervision, and (ii) a bipartite network of theses and thesis descriptors. The former has a modular structure that is partially explained by thematic specialization in different subdisciplines. The latter serves to assess the interdisciplinary structure of the discipline, as it enables the characterization of affinity levels between fields, research poles and thematic clusters. Our results have implications for the scientific evaluation and formal definition of related fields.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RED2018-102518-T), the Spanish State Research Agency (PID2020-118906GB-I00 and PID2020-119894GB-I00 via AEI/10.13039/501100011033), the Junta de Castilla y León – Consejería de Educación (BU055P20), Fundación La Caixa (2020/00062/001) and from NVIDIA Corporation and its donation of the TITAN Xp GPUs that facilitated this research. This work was partially supported by the European Social Fund, as the authors José Miguel Ramírez-Sanz, José Luis Garrido-Labrador and Alicia Olivares-Gil are the recipient of a predoctoral grant from the Department of Education of Junta de Castilla y León (VA) (ORDEN EDU/875/2021). In addition, this work was also partially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana via its Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, as Adrián Arnaiz is recipicient of a predoctoral grant

Fatty acids composition and age estimation of wild Octopus vulgaris paralarvae

Under culture conditions, lipid composition and specifically, the fatty acid profile of reared paralarvae is significantly different from hatchlings. Therefore, comparing wild paralarvae and reared paralarvae of similar age would allow us to elucidate if the changes in fatty acid profile are related with a non-optimal prey composition or are caused by the normal development. The aim of this study was analyze, for the very first time, the fatty acid profile of wild Octopus vulgaris paralarvae individually, determining for each paralarvae their age through deposition of daily increments on lateral hood surface of the beaks. The main goal is to clear up lipid requirements of paralarvae and optimise the diet of reared paralarvae

Increasing trend of antimicrobial resistance in Shigella associated with MSM transmission in Barcelona, 2020–21: outbreak of XRD Shigella sonnei and dissemination of ESBL-producing Shigella flexneri

Antimicrobial resistance; Shigella sonnei; Sexually transmitted infectionResistencia antimicrobiana; Shigella sonnei; Infección de transmisión sexualResistència antimicrobiana; Shigella sonnei; Infecció de transmissió sexualBackground Several countries have recently reported the detection of ESBL-producing Shigella sonnei associated with transmission among MSM. In a previous study by our group, 2.8% of Shigella spp. obtained from MSM in Barcelona between 2015 and 2019 were ESBL producers. Objectives To describe and characterize the emerging ESBL-producing Shigella spp. associated with sexual transmission among MSM detected from 2020 to 2021 in Barcelona, elucidating their connectivity with contemporaneous ESBL-producing Shigella spp. from other countries. Results From 2020 to 2021, we identified that among MSM, 68% of S. sonnei were XDR harbouring blaCTX-M-27 and 14% of Shigella flexneri were MDR harbouring blaCTX-M-27. WGS analysis showed that the ESBL-producing S. sonnei were part of a monophyletic cluster, which included isolates responsible for the prolonged outbreak occurring in the UK. Our data also reveal the first emergence and clonal dissemination of ESBL-producing and fluoroquinolone-resistant S. flexneri 2a among MSM. Conclusions We report an increasing trend of antimicrobial resistance in Shigella spp. among MSM in Barcelona since 2021, mainly as a consequence of the dissemination of XDR ESBL-producing S. sonnei, previously reported in the UK. These results highlight the importance of international collaborative surveillance of MDR/XDR S. sonnei and S. flexneri for rapid identification of their emergence and the prevention of the transmission of these pathogens.This work was partially supported by the ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’, ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’, and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) ‘A Way to Achieve Europe’ (Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases, grant number RD16/0016/0003) and by the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, grant no. CB21/13/00054). A.M.M. is supported by a grant from the ‘Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria’ (Contratos Predoctorales de Formación en Investigación, grant number FI19/00315)

Increasing trend of antimicrobial resistance in Shigella associated with MSM transmission in Barcelona, 2020-21 : outbreak of XRD Shigella sonnei and dissemination of ESBL-producing Shigella flexneri

Several countries have recently reported the detection of ESBL-producing Shigella sonnei associated with transmission among MSM. In a previous study by our group, 2.8% of Shigella spp. obtained from MSM in Barcelona between 2015 and 2019 were ESBL producers. To describe and characterize the emerging ESBL-producing Shigella spp. associated with sexual transmission among MSM detected from 2020 to 2021 in Barcelona, elucidating their connectivity with contemporaneous ESBL-producing Shigella spp. from other countries. From 2020 to 2021, we identified that among MSM, 68% of S. sonnei were XDR harbouring bla and 14% of Shigella flexneri were MDR harbouring bla . WGS analysis showed that the ESBL-producing S. sonnei were part of a monophyletic cluster, which included isolates responsible for the prolonged outbreak occurring in the UK. Our data also reveal the first emergence and clonal dissemination of ESBL-producing and fluoroquinolone-resistant S. flexneri 2a among MSM. We report an increasing trend of antimicrobial resistance in Shigella spp. among MSM in Barcelona since 2021, mainly as a consequence of the dissemination of XDR ESBL-producing S. sonnei, previously reported in the UK. These results highlight the importance of international collaborative surveillance of MDR/XDR S. sonnei and S. flexneri for rapid identification of their emergence and the prevention of the transmission of these pathogens