Is it time to combine untargeted antifungal strategies to reach the goal of 'early' effective treatment?

LETTER TO EDITO

Destruction of a protected habitat by an invasive alien species: the case of Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) in the box tree formations of Liguria (North-West Italy) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

The box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859), an invasive alien species of Asian origin associated with box trees, gained immediate attention in Europe due to the damage caused to ornamental stands and its rapid spread. However, its effects on natural box tree formations remained poorly investigated, especially in Southern Europe. In Liguria (North-West Italy), attacked xerotermophilous box tree formations on rocky substrate, a protected habitat (5110) after the Natura 2000 EU 92/43 Directive, seriously endangering its long-term survival. Since detection in 2013, this species defoliated almost the whole area covered by habitat 5110, until experiencing a population crash after depleting its only trophic resource. We present here the evolution of the invasion and the population dynamics of this invasive alien species in Liguria during the years 2016-2017

Should we continue to use prediction tools to identify patients at risk of Candida spp. infection? If yes, why?

We read with interest the article from Shanin et al. about the Fungal Infection Risk Evaluation (FIRE) study [1] aiming to 'describe the incidence of IFD in UK critical care units and to develop and validate a clinical risk prediction tool to identify non-neutropenic, critically ill adult patients at risk of IFD'. The investigators should be congratulated for the way they collected a huge amount of data from 96 adult intensive care units (ICUs), managed the FIRE database, and developed and validated the risk model. However, they stated that the prediction model would help to identify patients who may benefit from antifungal prophylaxis and that a number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrated a beneficial effect of antifungal prophylaxis and/or empiric treatment in terms of incidence of invasive fungal disease (IFD) and mortality. This statement is not supported by available evidence from RCTs. A recent Cochrane Systematic Review including 22 RCTs evaluating prophylaxis, pre-emptive, and empiric antifungal treatment with any antifungal drugs in 2761 non-neutropenic critically ill patients showed no significant effect on mortality (risk ratio (RR) 0.93, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.79 to 1.09) and a significant reduction in the risk of invasive fungal infection (IFI) (RR 0.57, 95 % CI 0.39 to 0.83) [2, 3]. In the subgroup analysis for type of intervention, antifungal prophylaxis was not associated with a significant mortality reduction but with a significant reduction of IFI [4]. This systematic review was the update of the one cited in the manuscript and published in 2006 including 12 RCT and 1606 patients

Field Localization and Enhancement of Phase Locked Second and Third Harmonic Generation in Absorbing Semiconductor Cavities

We predict and experimentally observe the enhancement by three orders of magnitude of phase mismatched second and third harmonic generation in a GaAs cavity at 650nm and 433nm, respectively, well above the absorption edge. Phase locking between the pump and the harmonics changes the effective dispersion of the medium and inhibits absorption. Despite hostile conditions the harmonics become localized inside the cavity leading to relatively large conversion efficiencies. Field localization plays a pivotal role and ushers in a new class of semiconductor-based devices in the visible and UV ranges

Electrical Properties of Self-Assembled Nano-Schottky Diodes

A bottom-up methodology to fabricate a nanostructured material by Au nanoclusters on 6H-SiC surface is illustrated. Furthermore, a methodology to control its structural properties by thermal-induced self-organization of the Au nanoclusters is demonstrated. To this aim, the self-organization kinetic mechanisms of Au nanoclusters on SiC surface were experimentally studied by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and theoretically modelled by a ripening process. The fabricated nanostructured materials were used to probe, by local conductive atomic force microscopy analyses, the electrical properties of nano-Schottky contact Au nanocluster/SiC. Strong efforts were dedicated to correlate the structural and electrical characteristics: the main observation was the Schottky barrier height dependence of the nano-Schottky contact on the cluster size. Such behavior was interpreted considering the physics of few electron quantum dots merged with the concepts of ballistic transport and thermoionic emission finding a satisfying agreement between the theoretical prediction and the experimental data. The fabricated Au nanocluster/SiC nanocontact is suggested as a prototype of nano-Schottky diode integrable in complex nanoelectronic circuits

Uncharacterized conserved motifs outside the HD-Zip domain in HD-Zip subfamily I transcription factors; a potential source of functional diversity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Plant HD-Zip transcription factors are modular proteins in which a homeodomain is associated to a leucine zipper. Of the four subfamilies in which they are divided, the tested members from subfamily I bind <it>in vitro </it>the same pseudopalindromic sequence CAAT(A/T)ATTG and among them, several exhibit similar expression patterns. However, most experiments in which HD-Zip I proteins were over or ectopically expressed under the control of the constitutive promoter 35S CaMV resulted in transgenic plants with clearly different phenotypes. Aiming to elucidate the structural mechanisms underlying such observation and taking advantage of the increasing information in databases of sequences from diverse plant species, an <it>in silico </it>analysis was performed. In addition, some of the results were also experimentally supported.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A phylogenetic tree of 178 HD-Zip I proteins together with the sequence conservation presented outside the HD-Zip domains allowed the distinction of six groups of proteins. A motif-discovery approach enabled the recognition of an activation domain in the carboxy-terminal regions (CTRs) and some putative regulatory mechanisms acting in the amino-terminal regions (NTRs) and CTRs involving sumoylation and phosphorylation. A yeast one-hybrid experiment demonstrated that the activation activity of ATHB1, a member of one of the groups, is located in its CTR. Chimerical constructs were performed combining the HD-Zip domain of one member with the CTR of another and transgenic plants were obtained with these constructs. The phenotype of the chimerical transgenic plants was similar to the observed in transgenic plants bearing the CTR of the donor protein, revealing the importance of this module inside the whole protein.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The bioinformatical results and the experiments conducted in yeast and transgenic plants strongly suggest that the previously poorly analyzed NTRs and CTRs of HD-Zip I proteins play an important role in their function, hence potentially constituting a major source of functional diversity among members of this subfamily.</p

Field theory for size- and charge asymmetric primitive model of electrolytes. Mean-field stability analysis and pretransitional effects

The primitive model of ionic systems is investigated within a field-theoretic description for the whole range of size-, \lambda, and charge, Z, ratios of the two ionic species. Two order parameters (OP) are identified, and their relations to physically relevant quantities are described for various values of \lambda and Z. Instabilities of the disordered phase associated with the two OP's are determined in the mean-field approximation. A gas-liquid separation occurs for any Z and \lambda different from 1. In addition, an instability with respect to various types of periodic ordering of the two kinds of ions is found

What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit

Intensive care unit- (ICU-) acquired infections are a major health problem worldwide. Inanimate surfaces and equipment contamination may play a role in cross-transmission of pathogens and subsequent patient colonization or infection. Bacteria contaminate inanimate surfaces and equipment of the patient zone and healthcare area, generating a reservoir of potential pathogens, including multidrug resistant species. Traditional terminal cleaning methods have limitations. Indeed patients who receive a bed from prior patient carrying bacteria are exposed to an increased risk (odds ratio 2.13, 95% confidence intervals 1.62\u20132.81) of being colonized and potentially infected by the same bacterial species of the previous patient. Biofilm formation, even on dry surfaces, may play a role in reducing the efficacy of terminal cleaning procedures since it enables bacteria to survive in the environment for a long period and provides increased resistance to commonly used disinfectants. No-touch methods (e.g., UV-light, hydrogen peroxide vapour) are under investigation and further studies with patient-centred outcomes are needed, before considering them the standard of terminal cleaning in ICUs. Healthcare workers should be aware of the role of environmental contamination in the ICU and consider it in the broader perspective of infection control measures and stewardship initiatives