Encapsulation of the Antistaphylococcal Endolysin LysRODI in pH-Sensitive Liposomes

© 2020 by the authors.Phage lysins are promising new therapeutics against multidrug-resistant bacteria. These so-called enzybiotics offer, amongst their most notable advantages, high target specificity and low resistance development. Moreover, there are numerous recent and ongoing studies aimed at demonstrating the efficacy and safety of endolysins in animal models or even in clinical trials. Nonetheless, as is the case for other antimicrobials, it is important to assess potential strategies that may broaden their potential applications or improve their stability. Encapsulation, for instance, has given very good results for some antibiotics. This study sought to evaluate the feasibility of encapsulating an endolysin against the opportunistic human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, one of the most problematic bacteria in the context of the current antibiotic resistance crisis. Endolysin LysRODI has antimicrobial activity against many S. aureus strains from different sources, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates. Here, this protein was encapsulated in pH-sensitive liposomes with an efficacy of approximately 47%, retaining its activity after being released from the nanocapsules. Additionally, the encapsulated endolysin effectively reduced S. aureus cell counts by > 2log units in both planktonic cultures and biofilms upon incubation at pH 5. These results demonstrate the viability of LysRODI encapsulation in liposomes for its targeted delivery under mild acidic conditionsThis study was funded by grants AGL2015-65673-R (MINECO/FEDER, UE), EU ANIWHA ERA-NET (BLAAT ID: 67)/PCIN-2017-001 (AEI/FEDER, UE), Proyecto Intramural CSIC201670E040, Proyecto Intramural CSIC 201770E016. IDI/2018/000119 (Program of Science, Technology and Innovation 2018-2020 and FEDER EU funds, Principado de Asturias, Spain). S.P. has a postdoctoral fellowship CONACYT (México)Peer reviewe

Metabolic syndrome association with fibrosis development in chronic hepatitis B virus inactive carriers

[Abstract] Background and Aim. There are few data of fibrosis development in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients classified as inactive carriers. The aim of this study is to determinate the prevalence of significant fibrosis and probable cirrhosis measured by FibroScan in real inactive CHB carriers and investigate the relationship with virological, epidemiological, and metabolic factors. Methods. Cross-sectional cohort study including CHB inactive carriers. Liver stiffness measurement was performed with transient elastography (FibroScan). Significant fibrosis (≥ F2) was defined as stiffness > 7.5 kPa, and probable cirrhosis as > 11.8 kPa. Factors associated with significant fibrosis were explored with univariate and multivariate adjusted logistic regression analyses. Results. Ninety-six CHB inactive carriers were analyzed. Of them, 24 (25%) had significant fibrosis and 7 (7%) probable cirrhosis; mean stiffness was 6.2 ± 2.3 kPa. Of them, 24% had metabolic syndrome, with higher FibroScan value than those without (8.4 kPa vs 5.5 kPa, P < 0.001). Factors associated with significant fibrosis were (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval, P value): central obesity (7.1, 1.8–27.9, 0.005), elevated fasting glucose (4.3, 1.3–27.9, 0.036), reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (5.2, 1.2–23.6, 0.032) and elevated triglycerides (6.2, 1.4–28.3, 0.019). Factors as age, sex, transaminases, hepatitis B virus DNA or genotype were not related with liver fibrosis. The presence of metabolic syndrome has a 69% of positive predictive value and 89% of negative predictive value for significant fibrosis. Conclusion. Different components of metabolic syndrome are associated with fibrosis development in CHB inactive carriers. In the absence of metabolic syndrome, significant fibrosis is uncommon in this population.Instituto de Salud Carlos III; CP08/00214Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI10/0216

Gender and disability,a double invisibility. Current situation

[Resumo]O xénero e a discapacidade veñen interactuar de tal maneira que provocan a aparición de barreiras dificilmente franqueables. As mulleres discapacitadas atópanse nunha situación de desvantaxe a respecto dos homes e as persoas sen discapacidade. O sexo e a discapacidade preséntanse como elementos de desigualdade e discriminación social. Faise preciso, pois, derrubar os conceptos desfasados arredor destas difíciles situacións, e establecer políticas transversais acompañadas de medidas integradoras, que non sexan sobreprotectoras, para o cal se ha de traballar na información e formación das propias mulleres e as súas familias. De entre todas as barreiras –físicas, arquitectónicas, de comunicación...– son quizais as actitudinais as que máis directamente afectan ás mulleres discapacitadas, o que leva consigo unha maior invisibilidade e sobreprotección. Porén, a discapacidade non debe ser asumida desde a vulnerabilidade, senón desde a necesidade de formular unha nova orde a través da posibilidade de participar de forma activa na toma decisións. No noso estudo tratamos de abordar a situación e o seu tratamento nas actuais políticas europea e española de loita contra a discriminación social, cunha especial énfase nos problemas que comporta a incorporación da muller discapacitada ao mercado laboral, en que a precariedade debe ser eliminada progresivamente cunha adecuación específica dos diversos programas de capacitación con medidas de acompañamento. Na Comunidade Autónoma galega están a levarse a cabo, ao abeiro da Lei 7/2004, de 16 de xullo, galega para a igualdade de mulleres e homes unha serie de incentivos á contratación de traballadoras con discapacidade, así como de fomento da promoción do emprego autónomo de persoas con discapacidade, o que significa un intento claro por parte da Administración de promover a plena integración deste colectivo. Desde o Observatorio Estatal da Discapacidade (OED) trátanse mensualmente os datos publicados polo Servizo Público de Emprego Estatal sobre novos contratos realizados a persoas con discapacidade en España. Desta análise pode extraerse que ao finalizar o segundo cuadrimestre de 2011, o acumulado de contratacións a persoas con discapacidade é de 42 178 contratos, fronte aos 39471 que se realizaron nese mesmo período do 2010. Estes datos rexistrados supoñen un 6,9% de incremento en relación cos datos de contratación deste colectivo ao finalizar o segundo cuadrimestre do ano 2010.[Abstract] Gender and disability come to interact in such a way that they create extremely difficult barriers to pass. Disabled women are in a situation of disadvantage regarding men and people without any disability. Gender and handicap appear as elements of inequality and social discrimination.It becomes necessary thus, to knock the old-fashioned concepts down concerning these difficult situations, establishing transverse policies accompanied by integration and not overprotectiv measures, for which we have to work in the information and formation for these women and their families. From all the barriers –physical, architectural, of communication…– the attitudinal are probably the ones that affect the disabled women more directly, which carries a major invisibility and overprotection. Disability must not be taken up from the vulnerability but from the need to raise a new order through the possibility of informing of active ways in decision making.In our study we try to approach the European and Spanish situation and the current treatment of the current policies in the fight against social discrimination, with a special emphasis in the problems that arise in the incorporation of disabled women to the job market in which the precariousness has to be eliminated progressively with a specific adequacy of the diverse training programs with accompaniment measures. In the Autonomous Galician Community a series of incentives are being carried out, under the protection of the law of July 16, 2004 (Galician Law for the equality of men and women), to the contracts of workers with disability, as well as boosting the promotion of self-employmentwork for people with disability, which portrays a clear attempt of the Administration for promoting full integration of this group. The State Observatory of Disability (OED) monthly treats the information published by the Public Service of State Employment on new contracts made to people with any disability in Spain. From this analysis can be deduced that at the end of the second four-month period of2011, the accumulated number of contracts made to people with disability is 42178, in comparison to the 39471 that were made in the same period of 2010. This registered information means a 6,9 % of increase in relation to the contract information of this group at the end of these cond four-month period of the year 2010

Creación de cuestionarios avanzados usando la plataforma Moodle

Asumiendo el papel de orientador, el profesor debe además, evaluar el proceso de aprendizaje del estudiante, no para sancionar sus resultados meramente, sino para ayudarle a cumplir objetivos mediante un seguimiento continuo de su trabajo. Así, aunque puedan ser necesarios los exámenes finales, no serán los únicos métodos de evaluación existentes. Para grupos grandes, puede resultar engorroso el excesivo trabajo que conlleva la evaluación continua de un elevado número de estudiantes. Por ello, resulta de gran utilidad hacer uso del módulo cuestionario empleando la plataforma Moodle. En definitiva, si nuestro propósito es usar Moodle para evaluar las competencias adquiridas por un alumno a través de una prueba objetiva o examen, las preguntas denominadas de tipo calculada son muy útiles para generar cuestionarios en esta plataforma virtual. De esta manera, cada alumno tendrá diferentes preguntas, por lo que se puede evitar que se pasen las respuestas ya que deben conocer el procedimiento para obtener la solución a la pregunta. El objetivo principal es aprender no pasar exámenes.Taking on the role of adviser, the teacher must now assess the student ́s learning process, not merely to sanction his results but to help the student achieve his best results through a constant supervision of his work. In this way, even though there may be final exams, these won ́t be the only means of assessment. Sometimes the great amount of work that constant supervision implies may prove to be cumbersome. For this reason it is useful to employ questionnaires using Moodle. In short, if our purpose is to use Moodle to assess the student ́s competence acquired through an exam, calculated question types are very useful to generate questions in this virtual domain. Therefore each student will have different questions and we will avoid situations in which the students share the answers since they will have to know the procedure to arrive at the solution

A hybrid analysis of LBSN data to early detect anomalies in crowd dynamics

Undoubtedly, Location-based Social Networks (LBSNs) provide an interesting source of geo-located data that we have previously used to obtain patterns of the dynamics of crowds throughout urban areas. According to our previous results, activity in LBSNs reflects the real activity in the city. Therefore, unexpected behaviors in the social media activity are a trustful evidence of unexpected changes of the activity in the city. In this paper we introduce a hybrid solution to early detect these changes based on applying a combination of two approaches, the use of entropy analysis and clustering techniques, on the data gathered from LBSNs. In particular, we have performed our experiments over a data set collected from Instagram for seven months in New York City, obtaining promising results.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. TEC2014-54335-C4-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. TEC2014-54335-C4-3-RAgencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. TEC2017-84197-C4-2-RAgencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. TEC2017-84197-C4-3-

Antibiotic residues in milk and cheeses after the off-label use of macrolides in dairy goats

[EN] The limited availability of drugs registered for dairy goats makes veterinarians prescribe off-label treatments with a legally established minimum safety period of seven days. The aim of this work was to verify if the exceptional use of macrolide antibiotics in dairy goats generates residues in milk and cheeses within that period. Hence, three macrolide drugs (erythromycin, tylosin and spiramycin) were administred in an in vivo experiment in dairy goats. Ripened cheeses were made from bulk milk obtained before drug administration, 24¿h after treatment, and at the end of the recommended withdrawal period. Residual amounts of erythromycin (234.9¿±¿52.7¿¿g/kg), tylosin (198.7¿±¿57.8¿¿g/kg) and spiramycin (1539.8¿±¿469.4¿¿g/kg), widely exceeding their legal maximum residue limits (MRLs) established, were detected in milk collected 24¿h after treatment, making the cheese production in most cases impossible. After the seven-day period, only spiramycin was detected in goat¿s milk (79.6¿±¿19.2¿¿g/kg) although no antibiotic residues were found in the cheeses. A withdrawal time of seven days seems suitable to guarantee milk safety after the administration of erythromycin and tylosin without any negative effects neither on the milk nor on the and cheese properties. However, given the rapid elimination of these substances, a shorter withdrawal period might be considered. For spiramycin, persisting in milk for a longer period, further studies on its pharmacokinetics in dairy goats would be recommendable to avoid a potential risk to consumer health.This work is part of the AGL-2013-45147-R funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Madrid. Spain). The authors thank the 'Program of Support for Research and Development' (PAID-2014, UPV) for support P. Quintanilla PhD studies at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Quintanilla-Vázquez, PG.; Beltrán Martínez, MC.; Peris Palau, B.; Rodríguez Garcia, M.; Molina Pons, MP. (2018). Antibiotic residues in milk and cheeses after the off-label use of macrolides in dairy goats. Small Ruminant Research. 167:55-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2018.08.008S556016