Whole genome sequence analysis indicates recent diversification of mammal-associated Campylobacter fetus and implicates a genetic factor associated with H2S production

cknowledgements We like to thank Emma Yee (U.S. Department of Agriculture) for the generation of sequence data, we thank James Bono (U.S. Department of Agriculture) for the generation of PacBio RS reads and thank Dr. Brian Brooks and Dr. John Devenish (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) for providing C. fetus strains and for critical review of this manuscript. Funding Publication charges for this article have been funded by Utrecht University, the Netherlands.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Campylobacter fetus Subspecies Contain Conserved Type IV Secretion Systems on Multiple Genomic Islands and Plasmids

Acknowledgments We like to thank Dr. John Devenish and Dr. Brian Brooks (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) for providing strains. We thank Nathaniel Simon and Mary Chapman for the generation of Illumina MiSeq reads and we thank James Bono for the generation of PacBio RS reads. Funding: The authors have no support or funding to report.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effects of augmented exercise therapy time after stroke: a meta-analysis

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> To present a systematic review of studies that addresses the effects of intensity of augmented exercise therapy time (AETT) on activities of daily living (ADL), walking, and dexterity in patients with stroke.</p> <p><b>Summary of Review:</b> A database of articles published from 1966 to November 2003 was compiled from MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PEDro, DARE, and PiCarta using combinations of the following key words: stroke, cerebrovascular disorders, physical therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, exercise therapy, rehabilitation, intensity, dose–response relationship, effectiveness, and randomized controlled trial. References presented in relevant publications were examined as well as abstracts in proceedings. Studies that satisfied the following selection criteria were included: (1) patients had a diagnosis of stroke; (2) effects of intensity of exercise training were investigated; and (3) design of the study was a randomized controlled trial (RCT). For each outcome measure, the estimated effect size (ES) and the summary effect size (SES) expressed in standard deviation units (SDU) were calculated for ADL, walking speed, and dexterity using fixed and random effect models. Correlation coefficients were calculated between observed individual effect sizes on ADL of each study, additional time spent on exercise training, and methodological quality. Cumulative meta-analyses (random effects model) adjusted for the difference in treatment intensity in each study was used for the trials evaluating the effects of AETT provided. Twenty of the 31 candidate studies, involving 2686 stroke patients, were included in the synthesis. The methodological quality ranged from 2 to 10 out of the maximum score of 14 points. The meta-analysis resulted in a small but statistically significant SES with regard to ADL measured at the end of the intervention phase. Further analysis showed a significant homogeneous SES for 17 studies that investigated effects of increased exercise intensity within the first 6 months after stroke. No significant SES was observed for the 3 studies conducted in the chronic phase. Cumulative meta-analysis strongly suggests that at least a 16-hour difference in treatment time between experimental and control groups provided in the first 6 months after stroke is needed to obtain significant differences in ADL. A significant SES supporting a higher intensity was also observed for instrumental ADL and walking speed, whereas no significant SES was found for dexterity.</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> The results of the present research synthesis support the hypothesis that augmented exercise therapy has a small but favorable effect on ADL, particularly if therapy input is augmented at least 16 hours within the first 6 months after stroke. This meta-analysis also suggests that clinically relevant treatment effects may be achieved on instrumental ADL and gait speed.</p&gt

Comparative Genomics of Campylobacter fetus from Reptiles and Mammals Reveals Divergent Evolution in Host-Associated Lineages

Acknowledgments The authors like to thank Brian Brooks and John Devenish (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) for providing strains and valuable suggestions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

№ 46. Із щотижневого зведення Секретного відділу ДПУ УСРР № 46/56 за час з 13 до 19 листопада 1927 р.

Classifications of the Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus and venerealis were first described in 1959 and were based on the source of isolation (intestinal versus genital) and the ability of the strains to proliferate in the genital tract of cows. Two phenotypic assays (1% glycine tolerance and H2S production) were described to differentiate the subspecies. Multiple molecular assays have been applied to differentiate the C. fetus subspecies, but none of these tests is consistent with the phenotypic identification methods. In this study, we defined the core genome and accessory genes of C. fetus, which are based on the closed genomes of five C. fetus strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the core genomes of 23 C. fetus strains of the two subspecies showed a division into two clusters. The phylogenetic core genome clusters were not consistent with the phenotypic classifications of the C. fetus subspecies. However, they were consistent with the molecular characteristics of the strains, which were determined by multilocus sequence typing, sap typing, and the presence/absence of insertion sequences and a type I restriction modification system. The similarity of the genome characteristics of three of the phenotypically defined C. fetus subsp. fetus strains to C. fetus subsp. venerealis strains, when considering the core genome and accessory genes, requires a critical evaluation of the clinical relevance of C. fetus subspecies identification by phenotypic assays

Salmonella Enteritidis bacteriophage candidates for phage therapy of poultry

Aims: Salmonella is a worldwide foodborne pathogen causing acute enteric infections in humans. In the recent years, the use of bacteriophages has been suggested as a possible tool to combat this zoonotic pathogen in poultry farms. This work aims to isolate and perform comparative studies of a group of phages active against a collection of specific Salmonella Enteritidis strains from Portugal and England. Also, suitable phage candidates for therapy of poultry will be selected. Methods and Results: The Salm. Enteritidis strains studied were shown to have a significantly high occurrence of defective (cryptic) prophages; however, no live phages were found in the strains. Bacteriophages isolated from different environments lysed all except one of the tested Salm. Enteritidis strains. The bacteriophages studied were divided into different groups according to their genetic homology, RFLP profiles and phenotypic features, and most of them showed no DNA homology with the bacterial hosts. The bacteriophage lytic efficacy proved to be highly dependent on the propagation host strain. Conclusions: Despite the evidences shown in this work that the Salm. Enteritidis strains used did not produce viable phages, we have confirmed that some phages, when grown on particular hosts, behaved as complexes of phages. This is most likely because of the presence of inactive phage-related genomes (or their parts) in the bacterial strains which are capable of being reactivated or which can recombine with lytic phages. Furthermore, changes of the bacterial hosts used for maintenance of phages must be avoided as these can drastically modify the parameters of the phage preparations, including host range and lytic activity. Significance and Impact of the Study: This work shows that the optimal host and growth conditions must be carefully studied and selected for the production of each bacteriophage candidate for animal therapy.The authors kindly acknowledge the Instituto Nacional Ricardo Jorge (INRJ) (Portugal) and also Tom Humphrey from the Division of Farm Animal Science, School of Clinical Veterinary Science of the University of Bristol (UK) for providing the Salm. Enteritidis isolates used in this work

Punctate White Matter Lesions Associated With Altered Brain Development And Adverse Motor Outcome In Preterm Infants.

Preterm infants who develop neurodevelopmental impairment do not always have recognized abnormalities on cerebral ultrasound, a modality routinely used to assess prognosis. In a high proportion of infants, MRI detects punctate white matter lesions that are not seen on ultrasonography. To determine the relation of punctate lesions to brain development and early neurodevelopmental outcome we used multimodal brain MRI to study a large cohort of preterm infants. Punctate lesions without other focal cerebral or cerebellar lesions were detected at term equivalent age in 123 (24.3%) (59 male) of the 506 infants, predominantly in the centrum semiovale and corona radiata. Infants with lesions had higher gestational age, birth weight, and less chronic lung disease. Punctate lesions showed a dose dependent relation to abnormalities in white matter microstructure, assessed with tract-based spatial statistics, and reduced thalamic volume (p < 0.0001), and predicted unfavourable motor outcome at a median (range) corrected age of 20.2 (18.4-26.3) months with sensitivity (95% confidence intervals) 71 (43-88) and specificity 72 (69-77). Punctate white matter lesions without associated cerebral lesions are common in preterm infants currently not regarded as at highest risk for cerebral injury, and are associated with widespread neuroanatomical abnormalities and adverse early neurodevelopmental outcome

Can screening and brief intervention lead to population-level reductions in alcohol-related harm?

A distinction is made between the clinical and public health justifications for screening and brief intervention (SBI) against hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption. Early claims for a public health benefit of SBI derived from research on general medical practitioners' (GPs') advice on smoking cessation, but these claims have not been realized, mainly because GPs have not incorporated SBI into their routine practice. A recent modeling exercise estimated that, if all GPs in England screened every patient at their next consultation, 96% of the general population would be screened over 10 years, with 70-79% of excessive drinkers receiving brief interventions (BI); assuming a 10% success rate, this would probably amount to a population-level effect of SBI. Thus, a public health benefit for SBI presupposes widespread screening; but recent government policy in England favors targeted versus universal screening, and in Scotland screening is based on new registrations and clinical presentation. A recent proposal for a national screening program was rejected by the UK National Health Service's National Screening Committee because 1) there was no good evidence that SBI led to reductions in mortality or morbidity, and 2) a safe, simple, precise, and validated screening test was not available. Even in countries like Sweden and Finland, where expensive national programs to disseminate SBI have been implemented, only a minority of the population has been asked about drinking during health-care visits, and a minority of excessive drinkers has been advised to cut down. Although there has been research on the relationship between treatment for alcohol problems and population-level effects, there has been no such research for SBI, nor have there been experimental investigations of its relationship with population-level measures of alcohol-related harm. These are strongly recommended. In this article, conditions that would allow a population-level effect of SBI to occur are reviewed, including their political acceptability. It is tentatively concluded that widespread dissemination of SBI, without the implementation of alcohol control measures, might have indirect influences on levels of consumption and harm but would be unlikely on its own to result in public health benefits. However, if and when alcohol control measures were introduced, SBI would still have an important role in the battle against alcohol-related harm

Use of fake identification to purchase alcohol amongst 15-16 year olds: a cross-sectional survey examining alcohol access, consumption and harm

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite legislation and enforcement activities to prevent underage access to alcohol, underage individuals continue to be able to access alcohol and to do so at levels which put them at significant risk of alcohol-related harm.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An opportunistic survey of 15-16 year olds (n = 9,833) across North West England was used to examine alcohol consumption, methods of access and related harms experienced (such as regretted sex). Associations between these were analysed using chi square and logistic regression techniques.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Over a quarter (28.3%) of 15-16 year old participants who drank reported having bought their own alcohol. One seventh (14.9%) of these owned at least one form of fake identification for which by far the most common purchase method was online. Logistic regression analyses showed that those who owned fake identification were significantly more likely to be male (AOR = 2.0; 95% CI = 1.7-2.5; P < 0.001) and to receive a higher personal weekly income (comparing those who received > £30 with those who received ≤ £10: AOR = 3.7; 95% CI = 2.9-4.9; P < 0.001). After taking into account differences in demographic characteristics and personal weekly income, ownership of fake identification was significantly associated with binge drinking (AOR = 3.5, 95% CI = 2.8-4.3; P < 0.001), frequent drinking (AOR = 3.0, 95% CI = 2.5-3.7; P < 0.001) and public drinking (AOR = 3.3, 95% CI = 2.5-4.1; P < 0.001) compared with those who did not own fake identification. Further, those who reported owning fake identification were significantly more likely to report experiencing a variety of alcohol-related harms such as regretted sex after drinking (chi square, all P < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Young people (aged 15-16 years) who have access to fake identification are at a particularly high risk of reporting hazardous alcohol consumption patterns and related harm. Owning fake identification should be considered a risk factor for involvement in risky drinking behaviours. Information on these hazards should be made available to schools and professionals in health, social and judicial services, along with advice on how to best to work with those involved.</p