Heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate susceptibility in a community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus epidemic clone, in a case of Infective Endocarditis in Argentina

BACKGROUND: Community-Associated Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has traditionally been related to skin and soft tissue infections in healthy young patients. However, it has now emerged as responsible for severe infections worldwide, for which vancomycin is one of the mainstays of treatment. Infective endocarditis (IE) due to CA-MRSA with heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate susceptibility-(h-VISA) has been recently reported, associated to an epidemic USA 300 CA-MRSA clone. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe the occurrence of h-VISA phenotype in a case of IE caused by a strain belonging to an epidemic CA-MRSA clone, distinct from USA300, for the first time in Argentina. The isolate h-VISA (SaB2) was recovered from a patient with persistent bacteraemia after a 7-day therapy with vancomycin, which evolved to fatal case of IE complicated with brain abscesses. The initial isolate-(SaB1) was fully vancomycin susceptible (VSSA). Although MRSA SaB2 was vancomycin susceptible (≤ 2 μg/ml) by MIC (agar and broth dilution, E-test and VITEK 2), a slight increase of MIC values between SaB1 and SaB2 isolates was detected by the four MIC methods, particularly for teicoplanin. Moreover, Sab2 was classified as h-VISA by three different screening methods [MHA5T-screening agar, Macromethod-E-test-(MET) and by GRD E-test] and confirmed by population analysis profile-(PAP). In addition, a significant increase in cell-wall thickness was revealed for SaB2 by electron microscopy. Molecular typing showed that both strains, SaB1 and SaB2, belonged to ST5 lineage, carried SCCmecIV, lacked Panton-Valentine leukocidin-(PVL) genes and had indistinguishable PFGE patterns (subtype I2), thereby confirming their isogenic nature. In addition, they were clonally related to the epidemic CA-MRSA clone (pulsotype I) detected in our country. CONCLUSIONS: This report demonstrates the ability of this epidemic CA-MRSA clone, disseminated in some regions of Argentina, to produce severe and rapidly fatal infections such as IE, in addition to its ability to acquire low-level vancomycin resistance; for these reasons, it constitutes a new challenge for the Healthcare System of this country.This study was supported by the National Council for Scientific Research and Technology of Argentina (CONICET), Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT - PICT 01630 to JLB), Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (SECyT-UNC) and Agencia Córdoba Ciencia.S

Calidad de consumo en variedades de boniato

El presente trabajo describe una experiencia de degustación de cuatro variedades de boniatos, Beauregard, INIA- Arapey, Morada INTA, y el clon E9227.1, en dos formas de cocción, hervidos y horneados, realizada en INIA y LATU. Dos paneles pilotos de consumidores de ambas instituciones, evaluaron los atributos de sabor, textura, color y agrado general, empleando una escala hedónica de nueve puntos. El aspecto comercial fue evaluado estableciendo el orden de preferencia de las variedades sin cocinar. Se realizaron ensayos fisicoquímicos de fructosa, glucosa, sacarosa y maltosa sobre el material crudo y de materia seca y sólidos solubles totales a las muestras crudas y cocidas. El Morada se diferenció por su alto contenido de materia seca y sólidos solubles totales (SST) del material procesado. El análisis estadístico  determinó mayor preferencia en aspecto comercial de Morada y clon E9227.1, como también un mayor valor en sabor y agrado general, tanto en la forma hervida como horneada. El valor obtenido en el atributo de color fue mayor en las variedades de pulpa naranja, Beauregard y clon E9227.1. Estos resultados  podrían tomarse como orientativos de las preferencias de consumidores uruguayos y una referencia para el mejoramiento genético, la producción, el comercio y el consumo. Sería recomendable ajustar medidas analíticas que se correlacionen con las preferencias sensoriales

Calidad de consumo en variedades de boniato

El presente trabajo describe una experiencia de degustación de cuatro variedades de boniatos, Beauregard, INIA- Arapey, Morada INTA, y el clon E9227.1, en dos formas de cocción, hervidos y horneados, realizada en INIA y LATU. Dos paneles pilotos de consumidores de ambas instituciones, evaluaron los atributos de sabor, textura, color y agrado general, empleando una escala hedónica de nueve puntos. El aspecto comercial fue evaluado estableciendo el orden de preferencia de las variedades sin cocinar. Se realizaron ensayos fisicoquímicos de fructosa, glucosa, sacarosa y maltosa sobre el material crudo y de materia seca y sólidos solubles totales a las muestras crudas y cocidas. El Morada se diferenció por su alto contenido de materia seca y sólidos solubles totales (SST) del material procesado. El análisis estadístico determinó mayor preferencia en aspecto comercial de Morada y clon E9227.1, como también un mayor valor en sabor y agrado general, tanto en la forma hervida como horneada. El valor obtenido en el atributo de color fue mayor en las variedades de pulpa naranja, Beauregard y clon E9227.1. Estos resultados podrían tomarse como orientativos de las preferencias de consumidores uruguayos y una referencia para el mejoramiento genético, la producción, el comercio y el consumo. Sería recomendable ajustar medidas analíticas que se correlacionen con las preferencias sensoriales

Femoral artery pseudoaneurysm: diagnosis with conventional duplex and color Doppler US.

Three patients with clinically suspected pseudoaneurysm as a complication of femoral puncture were referred for ultrasound (US) evaluation with both conventional duplex Doppler US and color Doppler imaging. Pseudoaneurysm (n = 2) and simple hematoma (n = 2) were depicted with both Doppler systems, and a separate pseudoaneurysm and a hematoma were found in one patient. These diagnoses were confirmed surgically. Distinctive Doppler spectral waveforms and color Doppler findings enabled confident diagnoses. Color Doppler imaging allowed faster detection of intraaneurysmal flow, and the track between the injured artery and the pseudoaneurysm was identified only with color Doppler imaging. Duplex Doppler US with color Doppler imaging allows for the rapid, unequivocal diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm, thus enabling prompt treatment without the need for invasive diagnostic modalitie

First report of Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum causing bacteria leaf streak of maize (Zea mays) in Argentina

Bacterial leaf streak of maize (Zea mays L.) is caused by the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum (Xvv). The disease is known to naturally infect maize in South Africa (Karamura et al. 2015) and was recently reported in the United States (Korus et al. 2017; Lang et al. 2017). Since 2010, the plant pathology laboratory at the Universidad Católica de Córdoba has observed the presence of bacterial leaf streak symptoms on maize leaves in the northern region of Córdoba, Argentina. The disease has since expanded its range and prevalence, from a few of the more susceptible hybrids to infecting all commercial hybrids available in the region. The severity can reach up to 60% of leaf area affected in the most severe cases. Each year from 2010 to 2017, the range of the disease expanded from the initial reports in northern Córdoba Province to the rest of the corn-producing areas of Argentina, confirmed by isolation. By the 2017 growing season, which in Argentina is from September to May with some variation between regions, symptoms and signs (bacterial ooze) of the disease were present in Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, San Luis, Entre Ríos, Santiago del Estero, Corrientes, Chaco, Tucumán, and Salta provinces. Initial symptoms were small, water-soaked lesions on the leaves that expanded along the veins producing irregular long necrotic streaks, and dark yellow to brown colored lesions. Bacterial ooze was observed coming out of infected leaf tissue 4 days after symptom development. Then the lesions became dry, often with shredding of the infected tissue. Disease symptoms often first appeared 4 to 5 days after a hard rain or windstorm. Mucoid, convex, and yellow colonies were isolated on nutrient agar from the streak tissue. Pathogenicity was confirmed by spray inoculating isolates on to maize plants at the six-leaf stage with a bacterial suspension of 1 × 108 CFU/ml. No symptoms were observed on control, mock inoculated plants. Disease symptoms on inoculated plants were observed within 5 to 14 days after inoculation. The bacteria were then reisolated to complete Koch?s postulates. The bacterium is rod-shaped, gram-negative, motile, and nonfluorescing. For a rapid method of identification to species level, all colonies were identified based on matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) Bruker Biotyper. This method confirmed the pathogenic bacteria was similar, high-confidence score (2.32), to the Xanthomonas vasicola biotype DSM3851T in the Bruker database, which corresponds to NCBI ID 56459. To determine the pathovar status, the genome of Xvv isolate Arg1-A, recovered from maize near Adelia Maria, Cordoba, Argentina, was sequenced and compared with the genomes of other Xvv recovered from maize in the U.S. and South Africa as well as X. vasicola pv. holcicola (Xvh) recovered from sorghum and known to be present in Argentina. Using a whole genome SNP phylogeny approach, we revealed that Xvv and Xvh are phylogenetically distinct and the isolate recovered from maize in Argentina was aligned closely (99% similarity) with isolates of Xvv recovered from maize in South Africa and the U.S. This group of maize infecting Xvv isolates included the genomes of isolates NE744 and SAM119 (the pathotype strain) used by Lang et al. (2017), to designate the Xvv pathovar. The genome of Arg-1A Xvv was deposited in GenBank under BioProject number PRJNA413069 and WGS accession PCMZ00000000. This is the first report of bacterial leaf streak caused by Xvv on maize in Argentina. This also represents the first report of the disease in South America.Fil: Plazas, María Cristina. Universidad Catolica de Córdoba. Facultad de Cs.agropecuarias. Cátedra de Fitopatologia; ArgentinaFil: de Rossi, Roberto Luis. Universidad Catolica de Córdoba. Facultad de Cs.agropecuarias. Cátedra de Fitopatologia; ArgentinaFil: Brücher, Elsa. Universidad Catolica de Córdoba. Facultad de Cs.agropecuarias. Cátedra de Fitopatologia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guerra, Fernando Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Catolica de Córdoba. Facultad de Cs.agropecuarias. Cátedra de Fitopatologia; ArgentinaFil: Vilaro, Mario Lamas. Universidad Catolica de Córdoba. Facultad de Cs.agropecuarias. Cátedra de Fitopatologia; ArgentinaFil: Guerra, Gustavo Dario. Hospital Privado Centro Médico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Wu, G.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unidos. Universidad Catolica de Córdoba. Facultad de Cs.agropecuarias. Cátedra de Fitopatologia; ArgentinaFil: Ortiz-Castro, M.C.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Broders, K.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unido

Heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate susceptibility in a community-associated methicillin-resistant <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>epidemic clone, in a case of Infective Endocarditis in Argentina

Abstract Background Community-Associated Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has traditionally been related to skin and soft tissue infections in healthy young patients. However, it has now emerged as responsible for severe infections worldwide, for which vancomycin is one of the mainstays of treatment. Infective endocarditis (IE) due to CA-MRSA with heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate susceptibility-(h-VISA) has been recently reported, associated to an epidemic USA 300 CA-MRSA clone. Case Presentation We describe the occurrence of h-VISA phenotype in a case of IE caused by a strain belonging to an epidemic CA-MRSA clone, distinct from USA300, for the first time in Argentina. The isolate h-VISA (SaB2) was recovered from a patient with persistent bacteraemia after a 7-day therapy with vancomycin, which evolved to fatal case of IE complicated with brain abscesses. The initial isolate-(SaB1) was fully vancomycin susceptible (VSSA). Although MRSA SaB2 was vancomycin susceptible (≤2 μg/ml) by MIC (agar and broth dilution, E-test and VITEK 2), a slight increase of MIC values between SaB1 and SaB2 isolates was detected by the four MIC methods, particularly for teicoplanin. Moreover, Sab2 was classified as h-VISA by three different screening methods [MHA5T-screening agar, Macromethod-E-test-(MET) and by GRD E-test] and confirmed by population analysis profile-(PAP). In addition, a significant increase in cell-wall thickness was revealed for SaB2 by electron microscopy. Molecular typing showed that both strains, SaB1 and SaB2, belonged to ST5 lineage, carried SCCmecIV, lacked Panton-Valentine leukocidin-(PVL) genes and had indistinguishable PFGE patterns (subtype I2), thereby confirming their isogenic nature. In addition, they were clonally related to the epidemic CA-MRSA clone (pulsotype I) detected in our country. Conclusions This report demonstrates the ability of this epidemic CA-MRSA clone, disseminated in some regions of Argentina, to produce severe and rapidly fatal infections such as IE, in addition to its ability to acquire low-level vancomycin resistance; for these reasons, it constitutes a new challenge for the Healthcare System of this country.</p

The Herschel-SPIRE Legacy Survey (HSLS): the scientific goals of a shallow and wide submillimeter imaging survey with SPIRE

A large sub-mm survey with Herschel will enable many exciting science opportunities, especially in an era of wide-field optical and radio surveys and high resolution cosmic microwave background experiments. The Herschel-SPIRE Legacy Survey (HSLS), will lead to imaging data over 4000 sq. degrees at 250, 350, and 500 micron. Major Goals of HSLS are: (a) produce a catalog of 2.5 to 3 million galaxies down to 26, 27 and 33 mJy (50% completeness; 5 sigma confusion noise) at 250, 350 and 500 micron, respectively, in the southern hemisphere (3000 sq. degrees) and in an equatorial strip (1000 sq. degrees), areas which have extensive multi-wavelength coverage and are easily accessible from ALMA. Two thirds of the of the sources are expected to be at z > 1, one third at z > 2 and about a 1000 at z > 5. (b) Remove point source confusion in secondary anisotropy studies with Planck and ground-based CMB data. (c) Find at least 1200 strongly lensed bright sub-mm sources leading to a 2% test of general relativity. (d) Identify 200 proto-cluster regions at z of 2 and perform an unbiased study of the environmental dependence of star formation. (e) Perform an unbiased survey for star formation and dust at high Galactic latitude and make a census of debris disks and dust around AGB stars and white dwarfs