Global emergence of a hypervirulent carbapenem-resistant <i>Escherichia coli </i>ST410 clone

Carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli (CREC) ST410 has recently emerged as a major global health problem. Here, we report a shift in CREC prevalence in Chinese hospitals between 2017 and 2021 with ST410 becoming the most commonly isolated sequence type. Genomic analysis identifies a hypervirulent CREC ST410 clone, B5/H24RxC, which caused two separate outbreaks in a children's hospital. It may have emerged from the previously characterised B4/H24RxC in 2006 and has been isolated in ten other countries from 2015 to 2021. Compared with B4/H24RxC, B5/H24RxC lacks the blaOXA-181-bearing X3 plasmid, but carries a F-type plasmid containing blaNDM-5. Most of B5/H24RxC also carry a high pathogenicity island and a novel O-antigen gene cluster. We find that B5/H24RxC grew faster in vitro and is more virulent in vivo. The identification of this newly emerged but already globally disseminated hypervirulent CREC clone, highlights the ongoing evolution of ST410 towards increased resistance and virulence. </p

Ceftazidime–Avibactam in Combination with Imipenem as Salvage Therapy for ST11 KPC-33-Producing <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>

A 22-year-old man, after a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, suffered long-term pneumonia caused by blaKPC-2-positive K. pneumoniae and blaKPC-33-positive K. pneumoniae alternately and finally achieved pathogenic clearance and improvement of clinical infectious conditions after using ceftazidime–avibactam in combination with imipenem as salvage therapy. This case provides a reference for treating infection caused by K. pneumoniae with a KPC variant in countries lacking new antimicrobial agents

Shifts in composition and co-occurrence patterns of the fish community in the south inshore of Zhejiang, China

Anthropogenic or environmental changes can impact not only the composition and diversity of fish communities but also their species interactions. However, our current understanding of changes in species interactions remains limited. In this study, we utilized the bottom trawling survey data from 2017 to 2020 to investigate the temporal shift of fish communities in the south inshore of Zhejiang through co-occurrence networks, species composition, and diversity analysis. Our findings indicated significant changes in the fish community in recent years, including a decrease in the number of dominant fish families, a shift in dominant species from medium-sized commercial fish to low-value small fish, a decline in relative biomass of fish resources, a loss of diversity and species co-occurrences, an increase in community modularity, and a decrease in community clustering. The changes in co-occurrence networks revealed the local decline or loss of keystone species critical to the functioning of the ecosystem and the fragmentation of the fish community in the south inshore of Zhejiang. We also found that despite the dominant species being the major component of the community, not all of them held central positions in the co-occurrence networks. Additionally, the high fishing intensity and stochastic environmental changes may have consistently negatively affected offshore fish communities. As a result, the resilience or function of the fish community under external disturbance threats was likely decreasing over time. It is imperative that ongoing monitoring and assessment are needed to expose the ecological impacts of a range of pervasive anthropogenic threats. Further measures should be taken to mitigate the negative impact of fishing or other disturbances on the coastal ecosystems are necessary

Force‐Induced Synergetic Pigmentary and Structural Color Change of Liquid Crystalline Elastomer with Nanoparticle‐Enhanced Mechanosensitivity

Abstract The ability of some animals to rapidly change their colors can greatly improve their chances of escaping predators or hunting prey. A classic example is cephalopods, which can rapidly shift through a wide range of colors. This ability is based on the synergetic effect of the change of pigmentary and structural colors exhibited by their own two categories of color‐changing cells: supernatant chromatophores offer various pigmentary colors and lower iridophores or leucophores reflect the different structural colors by adjusting their periodicities. Here, a mechanochromic liquid crystalline elastomer with force‐induced synergetic pigmentary and structural color change, whose mechanosensitivity is enhanced by the stress‐concentration induced by the doped nanoparticle, is presented. The materials have a large color‐changing gamut and high mechanochromic sensitivity, which exhibit great potential in the field of mechanical detectors, sensors, and anti‐counterfeiting materials

Global emergence of a hypervirulent carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli ST410 clone

Acknowledgements: This work was undertaken as part of the DETECTIVE research project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (8181101332) and the Medical Research Council (MR/S013660/1). W.v.S. was also supported by a Wolfson Research Merit Award (WM160092). We thank Dr. Andries J. van Tonder for guidance on the bioinformatics analysis.Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001809Carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli (CREC) ST410 has recently emerged as a major global health problem. Here, we report a shift in CREC prevalence in Chinese hospitals between 2017 and 2021 with ST410 becoming the most commonly isolated sequence type. Genomic analysis identifies a hypervirulent CREC ST410 clone, B5/H24RxC, which caused two separate outbreaks in a children’s hospital. It may have emerged from the previously characterised B4/H24RxC in 2006 and has been isolated in ten other countries from 2015 to 2021. Compared with B4/H24RxC, B5/H24RxC lacks the blaOXA-181-bearing X3 plasmid, but carries a F-type plasmid containing blaNDM-5. Most of B5/H24RxC also carry a high pathogenicity island and a novel O-antigen gene cluster. We find that B5/H24RxC grew faster in vitro and is more virulent in vivo. The identification of this newly emerged but already globally disseminated hypervirulent CREC clone, highlights the ongoing evolution of ST410 towards increased resistance and virulence