Evaluation of genotypic and phenotypic methods to distinguish clinical from environmental Vibrio vulnificus strains.

V. vulnificus is a heterogeneous bacterial species that comprises virulent and avirulent strains from environmental and clinical sources that have been grouped into three biotypes. To validate the typing methods proposed to distinguish clinical from environmental isolates, we performed phenotypic (API 20E, API20NE and BIOLOG tests) and genetic (ribotyping and DNA polymorphisms at several loci) studies with a large strain collection representing different biotypes, origins and host range. No phenotypic method was useful for biotyping or grouping strains with regard to origin of the isolate and only BIOLOG system was reliable to identify the strains at species level. The DNA polymorphisms divided the population into three major profiles: profile 1 were vcg type C, 16S rRNA type B and vvh type 1 and included most of biotype 1 human septicemic isolates; profile 2 were vcg type E, 16S rRNA type A and vvh type 2 and included all biotype 2 isolates together with biotype 1 isolates from fish, water and some human isolates; and the last one, profile 3, were vcg type E, 16S rRNA type AB and vvh type 2 and composed by biotype 3 strains. Ribotyping divided the species into two groups, one that included profile 1 isolates of biotype 1, and the other including isolates of all three biotypes belonging to the three profiles described. In conclusion, no genotyping system was able to distinguish neither clinical from environmental strains nor biogroups within V. vulnificus species, which suggests that new typing methodologies useful for Public Health have to be developed for this species

The Effect of the Environmental Temperature on the Adaptation to Host in the Zoonotic Pathogen Vibrio vulnificus

Vibrio vulnificus is a zoonotic pathogen that lives in temperate, tropical and subtropical aquatic ecosystems whose geographical distribution is expanding due to global warming. The species is genetically variable and only the strains that belong to the zoonotic clonal-complex can cause vibriosis in both humans and fish (being its main host the eel). Interestingly, the severity of the vibriosis in the eel and the human depends largely on the water temperature (highly virulent at 28°C, avirulent at 20°C or below) and on the iron content in the blood, respectively. The objective of this work was to unravel the role of temperature in the adaptation to the host through a transcriptomic and phenotypic approach. To this end, we obtained the transcriptome of a zoonotic strain grown in a minimum medium (CM9) at 20, 25, 28, and 37°C, and confirmed the transcriptomic results by RT-qPCR and phenotypic tests. In addition, we compared the temperature stimulon with those previously obtained for iron and serum (from eel and human, respectively). Our results suggest that warm temperatures activate adaptive traits that would prepare the bacteria for host colonization (metabolism, motility, chemotaxis, and the protease activity) and fish septicemia (iron-uptake from transferrin and production of O -antigen of high molecular weight) in a generalized manner, while environmental iron controls the expression of a host-adapted virulent phenotype (toxins and the production of a protective envelope). Finally, our results confirm that beyond the effect of temperature on the V. vulnificus distribution in the environment, it also has an effect on the infectious capability of this pathogen that must be taken into account to predict the real risk of V. vulnificus infection caused by global warming

A multiplex PCR for the detection of Vibrio vulnificus hazardous to human and/or animal health from seafood

Vibrio vulnificus is a zoonotic pathogen linked to aquaculture that is spreading due to climate change. The pathogen can be transmitted to humans and animals by ingestion of raw shellfish or seafood feed, respectively. The aim of this work was to design and test a new procedure to detect V. vulnificus hazardous to human and/or animal health in food/feed samples. For this purpose, we combined a pre-enrichment step with multiplex PCR using primers for the species and for human and animal virulence markers. In vitro assays with mixed DNA from different Vibrio species and Vibrio cultures showed that the new protocol was 100 % specific with a detection limit of 10 cfu/mL. The protocol was successfully validated in seafood using artificially contaminated live shrimp and proved useful also in pathogen isolation from animals and their ecosystem. In conclusion, this novel protocol could be applied in health risk studies associated with food/feed consumption, as well as in the routine identification and subtyping of V. vulnificus from environmental or clinical samples

Análisis y evaluación de una estrategia didáctica para el aprovechamiento de libros álbum de no-ficción en Educación Primaria

Este trabajo analiza y evalúa una estrategia didáctica ideada para el aprovechamiento de libros ilustrados de no-ficción en Educación Primaria. Partimos del presupuesto inicial de que la organización, el diseño y estilo de muchas de estas obras convierten el aprendizaje en una experiencia vívida, frente al enfoque más expositivo y frío del libro de texto, siempre que el proceso de mediación sepa aprovechar el componente estético y lúdico que contienen. Con esta finalidad, hemos desarrollado un proceso de investigación-acción (Elliott, 1993) que analiza los resultados de una intervención didáctica con un grupo de 3º de Primaria, basada en el libro Tom viaja en el tiempo: Antiguo Egipto, de Crow y Burke(2020), que ya analizamos en un trabajo anterior siguiendo los criterios del Orbis Pictus Award Committee (Sanjuán y Cristóbal, 2022). El procedimiento didáctico se apoya en el modelo de conversación dirigida propuesto por Tough (1976 y 1979) para el desarrollo de estructuras cognitivas en los niños, en la consideración de la relevancia de los procesos emocionales de la lectura y el aprendizaje de Kesler (2012) y Sanjuán (2013), así como en el concepto de aprendizaje social modelado de Bandura (1976). Los resultados indican que la estrategia didáctica desarrollada añade numerosos componentes emocionales a los procesos cognitivos del aprendizaje, estimula actitudes de indagación, creatividad y juego, y favorece simultáneamente el desarrollo sensorial y lingüístico

Software matemático aplicado a la docencia

La publicación del presente manual forma parte de las actividades desarrolladas durante el curso 2009/10 por el grupo de innovación docente (GID) ʺSoftware Matemático Aplicado a la Docencia (SMAD)ʺ financiado en convocatoria competitiva por el Vicerrectorado de Calidad y Formación Continua de la Universidad de Extremadura y coordinado por D. Ignacio Ojeda Martínez de Castilla.El objetivo de este manual es presentar los tutoriales de los programas Octave/MATLAB (cálculo científico y visualización de datos), R (cálculo estadístico y generación de gráficos) y MAXIMA (cálculo simbólico y numérico) y prácticas, tanto en los ficheros pdf como en los ficheros originales TEX, y ponerlas a disposición de la comunidad universitaria, para que aquellos docentes universitarios que puedan necesitarlos tengan acceso a ellas y puedan adaptarlas a sus necesidades.The objective of this manual is to introduce you to the tutorials of the programs Octave/MATLAB (scientific computing and visualization of data), R (statistical calculus and generation of graphics) and MAXIMA (symbolic computation and numerical calculation) and practice in both pdf files as in the original TEX files, and make them available to the university community, so that those academics who may need it have access to them and can adapt it to their needs

Diagnosis of multiple sclerosis using multifocal ERG data feature fusion

The purpose of this paper is to implement a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for multiple sclerosis (MS) based on analysing the outer retina as assessed by multifocal electroretinograms (mfERGs). MfERG recordings taken with the RETI?port/scan 21 (Roland Consult) device from 15 eyes of patients diagnosed with incipient relapsing-remitting MS and without prior optic neuritis, and from 6 eyes of control subjects, are selected. The mfERG recordings are grouped (whole macular visual field, five rings, and four quadrants). For each group, the correlation with a normative database of adaptively filtered signals, based on empirical model decomposition (EMD) and three features from the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) domain, are obtained. Of the initial 40 features, the 4 most relevant are selected in two stages: a) using a filter method and b) using a wrapper-feature selection method. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used as a classifier. With the optimal CAD configuration, a Matthews correlation coefficient value of 0.89 (accuracy = 0.95, specificity = 1.0 and sensitivity = 0.93) is obtained. This study identified an outer retina dysfunction in patients with recent MS by analysing the outer retina responses in the mfERG and employing an SVM as a classifier. In conclusion, a promising new electrophysiological-biomarker method based on feature fusion for MS diagnosis was identified.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónInstituto de Salud Carlos II

Yersinia ruckeri infection activates local skin and gill B cell responses in rainbow trout

Pág.11Teleost fish lack organized structures in mucosal tissues such as those of mammals, but instead contain dispersed B and T cells with the capacity to respond to external stimuli. Nonetheless, there is still a great lack of knowledge regarding how B cells differentiate to plasmablasts/plasma cells in these mucosal surfaces. To contribute to a further understanding of the mechanisms through which fish mucosal B cells are activated, in the current study, we have studied the B cell responses in the skin and gills of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) exposed to Yersinia ruckeri. We have first analyzed the transcription levels of genes related to B cell function in both mucosal surfaces, and in spleen and kidney for comparative purposes. In a second experiment, we have evaluated how the infection affects the presence and size of B cells in both skin and gills, as well as the presence of plasmablasts secreting total or specific IgMs. The results obtained in both experiments support the local differentiation of B cells to plasmablasts/plasma cells in the skin and gills of rainbow trout in response to Y. ruckeri. Interestingly, these plasmablasts/plasma cells were shown to secrete specific IgMs as soon as 5 days after the exposure. These findings contribute to a further understanding of how B cells in the periphery respond to immune stimulation in teleost fish.This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant 725061 ) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project PID2020-113268RB-I00 ). J. Germán Herranz-Jusdado was supported by a Juan de la Cierva contract ( FJC2019-041967-I ) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation .Peer reviewe

Genetic and psychosocial stressors have independent effects on the level of subclinical psychosis: findings from the multinational EU-GEI study

Aims: Gene x environment (G×E) interactions, i.e. genetic modulation of the sensitivity to environmental factors and/or environmental control of the gene expression, have not been reliably established regarding aetiology of psychotic disorders. Moreover, recent studies have shown associations between the polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia (PRS-SZ) and some risk factors of psychotic disorders, challenging the traditional gene v. environment dichotomy. In the present article, we studied the role of GxE interaction between psychosocial stressors (childhood trauma, stressful life-events, self-reported discrimination experiences and low social capital) and the PRS-SZ on subclinical psychosis in a population-based sample. Methods: Data were drawn from the EUropean network of national schizophrenia networks studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study, in which subjects without psychotic disorders were included in six countries. The sample was restricted to European descendant subjects (n = 706). Subclinical dimensions of psychosis (positive, negative, and depressive) were measured by the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) scale. Associations between the PRS-SZ and the psychosocial stressors were tested. For each dimension, the interactions between genes and environment were assessed using linear models and comparing explained variances of 'Genetic' models (solely fitted with PRS-SZ), 'Environmental' models (solely fitted with each environmental stressor), 'Independent' models (with PRS-SZ and each environmental factor), and 'Interaction' models (Independent models plus an interaction term between the PRS-SZ and each environmental factor). Likelihood ration tests (LRT) compared the fit of the different models. Results: There were no genes-environment associations. PRS-SZ was associated with positive dimensions (β = 0.092, R2 = 7.50%), and most psychosocial stressors were associated with all three subclinical psychotic dimensions (except social capital and positive dimension). Concerning the positive dimension, Independent models fitted better than Environmental and Genetic models. No significant GxE interaction was observed for any dimension. Conclusions: This study in subjects without psychotic disorders suggests that (i) the aetiological continuum hypothesis could concern particularly the positive dimension of subclinical psychosis, (ii) genetic and environmental factors have independent effects on the level of this positive dimension, (iii) and that interactions between genetic and individual environmental factors could not be identified in this sample

The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI): Incidence and First-Episode Case-Control Programme.

PURPOSE: The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study contains an unparalleled wealth of comprehensive data that allows for testing hypotheses about (1) variations in incidence within and between countries, including by urbanicity and minority ethnic groups; and (2) the role of multiple environmental and genetic risk factors, and their interactions, in the development of psychotic disorders. METHODS: Between 2010 and 2015, we identified 2774 incident cases of psychotic disorders during 12.9 million person-years at risk, across 17 sites in 6 countries (UK, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, and Brazil). Of the 2774 incident cases, 1130 cases were assessed in detail and form the case sample for case-control analyses. Across all sites, 1497 controls were recruited and assessed. We collected data on an extensive range of exposures and outcomes, including demographic, clinical (e.g. premorbid adjustment), social (e.g. childhood and adult adversity, cannabis use, migration, discrimination), cognitive (e.g. IQ, facial affect processing, attributional biases), and biological (DNA via blood sample/cheek swab). We describe the methodology of the study and some descriptive results, including representativeness of the cohort. CONCLUSIONS: This resource constitutes the largest and most extensive incidence and case-control study of psychosis ever conducted.The EU-GEI Study is funded by grant agreement HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, and grant 2012/0417-0 from the São Paulo Research Foundatio