Infekcija bakterijom Clostridium diffi cile u djece: značajke i liječenje – istraživanje u jednom centru u Rumunjskoj

The incidence of Clostridium diffi cile infection (CDI) in children is progressively increasing. The study evaluated the characteristics and antibacterial treatment of CDI at a Romanian pediatric gastroenterology department. We performed a retrospective study to analyze cases diagnosed with CDI, identifi ed through immunoassays for Clostridium diffi cile toxins in stools, between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015. Eighty-nine episodes of CDI were diagnosed in 73 patients. We noticed an increasing incidence reaching maximum in 2014 with 6.9 cases/1000 patients. Almost 40% of patients had community-acquired CDI. The most frequently associated comorbidities were infl ammatory bowel disease and cow’s milk allergy. There was a small percentage of recurrent episodes (24.2%). Metronidazole was administered as fi rst-line treatment in 49.2% of mild/moderate cases and proved eff ective in 79.4% of these. More than 70% of all patients in which metronidazole was not effi cient had comorbidities, compared to 22.2% of patients where metronidazole was effi cacious. The alternative was vancomycin which cured the disease in all cases. In severe forms, a combination of intravenous metronidazole and oral vancomycin was the effi cient solution. Oral vancomycin was the effi cacious treatment for the fi rst recurrence. We report an increasing incidence of CDI in Romanian children. The failure rate for metronidazole treatment was low, thus metronidazole may be safely recommended for the fi rst episode of mild/moderate CDI. Vancomycin proved eff ective in all cases, regardless of the fi rst episode or recurrence, and may be used effi ciently as fi rst-line treatment.Incidencija infekcije bakterijom Clostridium diffi cile (CDI) u djece u progresivnom je porastu. U ovom istraživanju procijenjene su značajke i antibakterijska terapija CDI na jednom odjelu pedijatrijske gastroenterologije u Rumunjskoj. Provedeno je retrospektivno istraživanje u kojem su analizirani slučajevi CDI utvrđeni na osnovi imunoloških testova na toksine Clostridium diffi cile u stolici od 1. siječnja 2005. do 31. prosinca 2015. godine. U 73 bolesnika dijagnosticirano je 89 epizoda CDI. Zabilježena je rastuća incidencija CDI s najvišom stopom 2014. godine sa 6,9 slučajeva na 1000 bolesnika. CDI stečena u zajednici utvrđena je u gotovo 40% bolesnika. Najčešće pridružene istodobne bolesti bile su upalna crijevna bolest i alergija na kravlje mlijeko. Postotak ponovljenih epizoda bio je nizak (24,2%). Metronidazol kao terapija prvog izbora davao se u 49,2% blažih/umjerenih slučajeva i pokazao se učinkovitim u 79,4% njih. Istodobno prisutne bolesti zabilježene su u više od 70% bolesnika u kojih metronidazol nije bio učinkovit u usporedbi s 22,2% bolesnika kod kojih je metronidazol bio učinkovit. Alternativna terapija bio je vankomicin koji je izliječio bolest u svim slučajevima. U teškim oblicima bolesti kombinacija intravenskog metronidazola i peroralnog vankomicina pokazala se učinkovitim rješenjem. Peroralni vankomicin bio je učinkovit u liječenju prve ponovljene epizode bolesti. Ukazuje se na rastuću incidenciju CDI kod rumunjske djece. Stopa neupješnog liječenja metronidazolom bila je niska pa se ovaj lijek može sa sigurnošću preporučiti za liječenje prve epizode blaže/umjerene CDI. Vankomicin se pokazao učinkovitim u svim slučajevima bez obzira na to radi li se o prvoj ili ponovljenoj epizodi bolesti i može se učinkovito primijeniti kao terapija prvog izbora

Graph Curve Matroids

We introduce a new class of matroids, called graph curve matroids. A graph curve matroid is associated to a graph and defined on the vertices of the graph as a ground set. We prove that these matroids provide a combinatorial description of hyperplane sections of degenerate canonical curves in algebraic geometry. Our focus lies on graphs that are 2-connected and trivalent, which define identically self-dual graph curve matroids, but we also develop generalizations. Finally, we provide an algorithm to compute the graph curve matroid associated to a given graph, as well as an implementation and data of examples that can be used in Macaulay2.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, comments are welcom

Historical and contemporary factors generate unique butterfly communities on islands

Vodă, Raluca et al.The mechanisms shaping island biotas are not yet well understood mostly because of a lack of studies comparing eco-evolutionary fingerprints over entire taxonomic groups. Here, we linked community structure (richness, frequency and nestedness) and genetic differentiation (based on mitochondrial DNA) in order to compare insular butterfly communities occurring over a key intercontinental area in the Mediterranean (Italy-Sicily-Maghreb). We found that community characteristics and genetic structure were influenced by a combination of contemporary and historical factors, and among the latter, connection during the Pleistocene had an important impact. We showed that species can be divided into two groups with radically different properties: widespread taxa had high dispersal capacity, a nested pattern of occurrence, and displayed little genetic structure, while rare species were mainly characterized by low dispersal, high turnover and genetically differentiated populations. These results offer an unprecedented view of the distinctive butterfly communities and of the main processes determining them on each studied island and highlight the importance of assessing the phylogeographic value of populations for conservation.This research was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Project CGL2013-48277-P) and from the European Union’s Seventh Framework programme for research and innovation under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 609402 - 2020 researchers: Train to Move (T2M) postdoctoral fellowship to R. Vodă, and by the projects “Barcoding Italian Butterflies” and “Barcoding Butterflies of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park.” V. Dincă was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (project no. 625997). L. Dapporto was supported by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant (project no. 658844 Eco-PhyloGeo).Peer Reviewe

Self-dual matroids from canonical curves

Self-dual configurations of 2n points in a projective space of dimension n-1 were studied by Coble, Dolgachev-Ortland, and Eisenbud-Popescu. We examine the self-dual matroids and self-dual valuated matroids defined by such configurations, with a focus on those arising from hyperplane sections of canonical curves. These objects are parametrized by the self-dual Grassmannian and its tropicalization. We tabulate all self-dual matroids up to rank 5 and investigate their realization spaces. Following Bath, Mukai, and Petrakiev, we explore algorithms for recovering a curve from the configuration. A detailed analysis is given for self-dual matroids arising from graph curves.Comment: 33 page

The influence of the visualization task on the Simulator Sickness symptoms - a comparative SSQ study on 3DTV and 3D immersive glasses

International audienceThe human factors are an essential aspect to take into consideration in order to explain the level of public acceptability of new stereo- scopic devices. A study using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire allowed us to illustrate the differences in symptoms after the visual- ization of 3D images on a 3DTV screen and on a pair of prototype immersive 3D glasses. Also, the results of our study showed that the visualization task influenced the exploration of the scenes, and there- fore influenced the evolution of the simulator sickness symptoms

Une méthode pour l'évaluation de la qualité des images 3D stéréoscopiques.

Dans le contexte d'un intérêt grandissant pour les systèmes stéréoscopiques, mais sans méthodes reproductible pour estimer leur qualité, notre travail propose une contribution à la meilleure compréhension des mécanismes de perception et de jugement humains relatifs au concept multi-dimensionnel de qualité d'image stéréoscopique. Dans cette optique, notre démarche s'est basée sur un certain nombre d'outils : nous avons proposé un cadre adapté afin de structurer le processus d'analyse de la qualité des images stéréoscopiques, nous avons implémenté dans notre laboratoire un système expérimental afin de conduire plusieurs tests, nous avons crée trois bases de données d'images stéréoscopiques contenant des configurations précises et enfin nous avons conduit plusieurs expériences basées sur ces collections d'images. La grande quantité d'information obtenue par l'intermédiaire de ces expérimentations a été utilisée afin de construire un premier modèle mathématique permettant d'expliquer la perception globale de la qualité de la stéréoscopie en fonction des paramètres physiques des images étudiée.In a context of ever-growing interest in stereoscopic systems, but where no standardized algorithmic methods of stereoscopic quality assessment exist, our work stands as a step forward in the understanding of the human perception and judgment mechanisms related to the multidimensional concept of stereoscopic image quality. We used a series of tools in order to perform in-depth investigations in this direction: we proposed an adapted framework to structure the process of stereoscopic quality assessment, we implemented a stereoscopic system in our laboratory for performing various tests, we created three stereoscopic datasets with precise structures, and we performed several experimental studies using these datasets. The numerous experimental data obtained were used in order to propose a first mathematical framework for explaining the overall percept of stereoscopic quality in function of the physical parameters of the stereoscopic images under study.SAVOIE-SCD - Bib.électronique (730659901) / SudocGRENOBLE1/INP-Bib.électronique (384210012) / SudocGRENOBLE2/3-Bib.électronique (384219901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Alternative Control of Phragmidium rubi-idaei Infecting Two Rubus Species

Organic berry plantations have been gaining popularity among farmers during recent years. Even so, farmers experience serious challenges in disease control management, which is a concern in organic farming. Phragmidiumrubi-idaei (DC) P. Karst is the pathogen responsible for blackberry and raspberry rust disease, one of the most present and active diseases in plantations. The antifungal certified products found on the organic farming market offer the opportunity for an efficient control strategy over plant pathogens in fruit shrub plantations. In this study, 5 natural based products—namely Altosan, Mimox, Canelys, Zitron, and Zeolite—were tested for their fungistatic effect over P. rubi-idaei. The experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions, performing observations over the impact of organic products, used at different concentration levels, on rust conidia germination. Moreover, field experiments were conducted in order to evaluate the efficiency of different treatments for rust control on raspberry (‘Polka’, ‘Veten’ and ‘Heritage’) and blackberry (‘Thorn Free’, ‘Chester’ and ‘Loch Ness’) varieties. Data analysis based on ANOVA tests showed significant differences between the tested variants and the control sample at p < 0.001. Furthermore, LSD test confirmed differences between all substances tested (p < 0.005). The natural products Canelys (formulated with cinnamon) and Zytron (based on citrus extract) have proven the highest inhibitory capacity for conidia germination during in vitro tests registering values of 80.42% and 78.34%, respectively. The same high inhibitory rates against rust pathogen were kept also in the field tests using the same two natural-based products mentioned earlier. In addition, outcomes from this study demonstrated that Zeolite is not recommended for raspberry or blackberry rust control

From NAFLD in clinical practice to answers from guidelines

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