Considerazioni sulla conferenza delle nazioni unite sullo sviluppo sostenibile con particolare riferimento all’apporto delle istituzioni europee

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio +20 (Rio de Janeiro, June 2012) is a World Summit which addresses global issues such as green economy and sustainable development governance. At the end of the Conference was delivered a non-binding document, which poses strong problems in order to defining its status and the future implementation of its measures by the international community. In this context, the EU plays a central role, in the preparatory phase of the Summit and in the current follow-up. Not all the proposals related to the first step were incorporated in the final text of Rio+20. However, at the current stage, European Union is working hard to enlarge the Conference follow-up

As especificidades da orientação profissional em clientes com perturbações do espetro do autismo/síndrome de Asperger

Tese de mestrado, Psicologia (Secção de Psicologia da Educação e da Orientação), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2013Este projeto de investigação tem como objetivo procurar identificar estratégias facilitadoras para uma Orientação Profissional com sucesso, em clientes com Perturbações do Espetro do Autismo (PEA) ou Síndrome de Asperger (SA). Indivíduos com PEA/SA têm determinadas particularidades que comprometem a sua eficácia em todas as áreas da vida quotidiana, inclusivamente no que refere às escolhas vocacionais e planeamento da carreira. Assim, consideramos que, para que um processo de Orientação Profissional seja eficaz, é necessário um conhecimento acerca da forma de funcionamento dos indivíduos com esta perturbação, analisando as suas particularidades específicas, procurando identificar estratégias capazes de os auxiliar a aceitar as suas limitações, e, ao mesmo tempo, tentando identificar mecanismos de defesa que possam funcionar como elementos facilitadores da sua integração social e laboral. O estudo realizado incidiu sobre três clientes diagnosticados com PEA ou SA, e partiu do pressuposto de que qualquer trabalho a desenvolver com clientes com estas caraterísticas deve envolver os familiares, que funcionam, geralmente, como elementos facilitadores de todo o processo . Para realização do estudo foram utilizados os seguintes instrumentos: “Análise das Expetativas dos Clientes” e “Análise das Expetativas Parentais”, “Questionário de Autoeficácia”, “Perfil de Competências do Cliente –método KIRA” e “Perfil de Competências em Contexto de Trabalho de Helga Rowe”. Estes instrumentos foram utilizados para melhorar o autoconhecimento dos clientes em termos do seu Perfil de Competências e identificar, também, as suas expetativas (bem como as expetativas parentais) com o objetivo de as tornar o mais realistas possível. Foram realizadas reuniões mensais com os clientes e encarregados de educação para análise dos resultados obtidos a partir dos instrumentos utilizados. Os resultados do estudo são indicativos que o objetivo previsto foi atingido; para além disso, o método KIRA revelou-se uma mais valia em todo este processo, permitindo identificar estratégias facilitadores de integração no mundo do trabalho e contribuindo para a elaboração, no final do estudo, de uma proposta de encaminhamento para cada cliente.The aim of this study is to identify strategies to enhance a successful Professional Guidance in clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Asperger Syndrom. (AS). A person with ASD or AS has some characteristics that do compromise his/her success in every area of daily life, including in what refers to vocational choices and career planning. Considering this fact, we think that a successful process of Professional Guidance must include a profound knowledge of their way of functioning, by identifying their specific characteristics and specific strategies that may be capable of helping them to accept their limitations while identifying defense mechanisms in order to help a successful social and labor integration. This study included three clients diagnosed with ASD or AS, and had as a basis the knowledge that every work to be developed with those clients must include family, as family is the element that generally helps to facilitate all the process. To develop this study were used the following instruments: “Clients Expectations Analysis”, “Parents Expectations Analysis”, “ Auto efficiency Questionnaire”, “ Client Competences Profile – KIRA Method”; “Competences Profile in Place of Work – Helga Rowe”. These instruments were used to improve clients self knowledge in what refers to their Profile and to identify their expectations (as well as parents expectations) in order to turn them into realistic ones. Clients and their parents attended to monthly meetings in order to analyze the results obtained through the referred instruments. The results of the study indicate that the aim was attained. Also KIRA method appear to be worthwhile in all this process as it allowed to identify facilitating strategies to a successful integration in labor market and also to present, at the end of the study, a guidance proposal for each one of the three clients

The Streptomyces coelicolor small ORF trpM stimulates growth and morphological development and exerts opposite effects on actinorhodin and calcium-dependent antibiotic production

In actinomycetes, antibiotic production is often associated with a morpho-physiological differentiation program that is regulated by complex molecular and metabolic networks. Many aspects of these regulatory circuits have been already elucidated and many others still deserve further investigations. In this regard, the possible role of many small open reading frames (smORFs) in actinomycete morpho-physiological differentiation is still elusive. In Streptomyces coelicolor, inactivation of the smORF trpM (SCO2038) – whose product modulates L-tryptophan biosynthesis – impairs production of antibiotics and morphological differentiation. Indeed, it was demonstrated that TrpM is able to interact with PepA (SCO2179), a putative cytosol aminopeptidase playing a key role in antibiotic production and sporulation. In this work, a S. coelicolor trpM knock-in (Sco-trpMKI) mutant strain was generated by cloning trpM into overexpressing vector to further investigate the role of trpM in actinomycete growth and morpho-physiological differentiation. Results highlighted that trpM: (i) stimulates growth and actinorhodin (ACT) production; (ii) decreases calcium-dependent antibiotic (CDA) production; (iii) has no effect on undecylprodigiosin production. Metabolic pathways influenced by trpM knock- in were investigated by combining two-difference in gel electrophoresis/nanoliquid chromatography coupled to electrospray linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (2D- DIGE/nanoLC-ESI-LIT-MS/MS) and by LC-ESI-MS/MS procedures, respectively. These analyses demonstrated that over-expression of trpM causes an over-representation of factors involved in protein synthesis and nucleotide metabolism as well as a down-representation of proteins involved in central carbon and amino acid metabolism. At the metabolic level, this corresponded to a differential accumulation pattern of different amino acids – including aromatic ones but tryptophan – and central carbon intermediates. PepA was also down-represented in Sco-trpMKI. The latter was produced as recombinant His-tagged protein and was originally proven having the predicted aminopeptidase activity. Altogether, these results highlight the stimulatory effect of trpM in S. coelicolor growth and ACT biosynthesis, which are elicited through the modulation of various metabolic pathways and PepA representation, further confirming the complexity of regulatory networks that control antibiotic production in actinomycetes

Campylobacter jejuni fatal sepsis in a patient with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: Case report and literature review of a difficult diagnosis

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) bacteremia is difficult to diagnose in individuals with hematological disorders undergoing chemotherapy. The cause can be attributed to the rarity of this infection, to the variable clinical presentation, and to the partial overlapping symptoms underlying the disease. Here, we report a case of a fatal sepsis caused by C. jejuni in a 76-year-old Caucasian man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. After chemotherapeutic treatment, the patient experienced fever associated with severe neutropenia and thrombocytopenia without hemodynamic instability, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. The slow growth of C. jejuni in the blood culture systems and the difficulty in identifying it with conventional biochemical phenotyping methods contributed to the delay of administering a targeted antimicrobial treatment, leading to a fatal outcome. Early recognition and timely intervention are critical for the successful management of C. jejuni infection. Symptoms may be difficult to recognize in immunocompromised patients undergoing chemotherapy. Thus, it is important to increase physician awareness regarding the clinical manifestations of C. jejuni to improve therapeutic efficacy. Moreover, the use of more aggressive empirical antimicrobial treatments with aminoglycosides and/or carbapenems should be considered in immunosuppressed patients, in comparison to those currently indicated in the guidelines for cancer-related infections supporting the use of cephalosporins as monotherapy

The Emerging Role of Microbial Biofilm in Lyme Neuroborreliosis

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi in North America and Borrelia afzelii or Borrelia garinii in Europe and Asia, respectively. The infection affects multiple organ systems, including the skin, joints, and the nervous system. Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) is the most dangerous manifestation of Lyme disease, occurring in 10-15% of infected individuals. During the course of the infection, bacteria migrate through the host tissues altering the coagulation and fibrinolysis pathways and the immune response, reaching the central nervous system (CNS) within 2 weeks after the bite of an infected tick. The early treatment with oral antimicrobials is effective in the majority of patients with LNB. Nevertheless, persistent forms of LNB are relatively common, despite targeted antibiotic therapy. It has been observed that the antibiotic resistance and the reoccurrence of Lyme disease are associated with biofilm-like aggregates in B. burgdorferi, B. afzelii, and B. garinii, both in vitro and in vivo, allowing Borrelia spp. to resist to adverse environmental conditions. Indeed, the increased tolerance to antibiotics described in the persisting forms of Borrelia spp., is strongly reminiscent of biofilm growing bacteria, suggesting a possible role of biofilm aggregates in the development of the different manifestations of Lyme disease including LNB

Unravelling the DNA sequences carried by Streptomyces coelicolor membrane vesicles

Membrane vesicles (MVs) are spherical particles with nanoscale dimensions and characterized by the presence of diverse cargos, such as nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and cellular metabolites. Many examples of (micro)organisms producing MVs are reported in literature. Among them, bacterial MVs are of particular interest because they are now considered as the fourth mechanism of horizontal gene transfer. Streptomyces bacteria are well-known for their ecological roles and ability to synthesize bioactive compounds, with Streptomyces coelicolor being the model organism. It was previously demonstrated that it can produce distinct populations of MVs characterized by different protein and metabolite cargos. In this work we demonstrated for the first time that MVs of S. coelicolor carry both DNA and RNA and that their DNA content represents the entire chromosome of the bacterium. These findings suggest that MV DNA could have a role in the evolution of Streptomyces genomes and that MVs could be exploited in new strain engineering strategies

DNA sequence variation of drought-response candidate genes in Austrocedrus chilensis

Background: Austrocedrus chilensis (D. Don) Pic. Ser. et Bizzarri commonly known as Patagonian cypress is a member of the Cupressaceae family, characterized by a high adaptive potential for growing in marginal areas and good timber quality. The species grows over a wide area and under a wide range of rainfall. This study assessed adaptive genetic variation at SNP level in candidate genes involved in response to drought stress. Results: A total of 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found among 1,428 bp. Average nucleotide diversity value (π = 0.00312) was similar to those previously reported in other Cupressaceae. The Fst average among genes and populations was 0.163 and the lowest differentiation was observed in continuous and humid populations. A number of neutrality tests were applied to find evidence of positive selection in our candidate gene set, but only AcAQP2 gene in Pedregoso and San Ramón populations revealed significant departures from neutrality with positive values suggesting balancing selection. Conclusions: In this study we report the levels of nucleotide diversity searched in some drought stress candidate genes in Austrocedrus chilensis and the selective factors that may be acting on this species.Fil: Pomponio, Maria Florencia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Inv. Agropecuarias. Centro de Invest.de Recursos Naturales. Instituto de Recursos Biologicos; ArgentinaFil: Torales, Susana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Inv. Agropecuarias. Centro de Invest.de Recursos Naturales. Instituto de Recursos Biologicos; ArgentinaFil: Gallo, Leonardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Reg.patagonia Norte. Estacion Exptal.agrop.s.c.de Bariloche. Grupo de Genetica Forestal; ArgentinaFil: Pastorino, Mario Juan. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Reg.patagonia Norte. Estacion Exptal.agrop.s.c.de Bariloche. Grupo de Genetica Forestal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Marchelli, Paula. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Reg.patagonia Norte. Estacion Exptal.agrop.s.c.de Bariloche. Grupo de Genetica Forestal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Cervera, María Teresa. Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria. Centro de Investigación Forestal; EspañaFil: Marcucci Poltri, Susana Noemí. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Inv. Agropecuarias. Centro de Invest.de Cs.veterinarias y Agronomicas. Instituto de Biotecnologia; Argentin

Novel Sortase A Inhibitors to Counteract Gram-Positive Bacterial Biofilms

Sortase A (SrtA) is a membrane enzyme responsible for the covalent anchoring of surface proteins on the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria. Nowadays it is considered an interesting target for the development of new anti-infective drugs which aim to interfere with important Gram-positive virulence mechanisms. Along the years, we studied the anti-staphylococcal and anti-biofilm activity of some natural and synthetic polyhalogenated pyrrolic compounds, called pyrrolomycins. Some of them were active on Gram-positive pathogens at a μg/mL range of concentration (1.5-0.045 μg/mL) and showed a biofilm inhibition in the range of 50-80%. [1-3] In light of these encouraging results, herein we present our efforts in the design and synthesis of novel pyrrolomycins. To dispose of sufficient amount for the in-depth in vitro investigation, we developed an efficient and easy-to-use microwave synthetic methodology. All compounds showed a good inhibitory activity toward SrtA, in accordance with the molecular modelling studies, having IC50 values ranging from 130 to 300 µM comparable to berberine hydrochloride, our reference compound. Particularly, the pentabromo-derivative exhibited the highest capability to interfere with biofilm formation of S. aureus with an IC50 of 3.4 nM. This compound was also effective in altering S. aureus murein hydrolase activity, responsible for degradation, turnover, and maturation of bacterial peptidoglycan and involved in the initial stages of S. aureus biofilm formation. [4

Neutrophil and Natural Killer Cell Interactions in Cancers: Dangerous Liaisons Instructing Immunosuppression and Angiogenesis

The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) has largely been reported to cooperate on tumor onset and progression, as a consequence of the phenotype/functional plasticity and adaptation capabilities of tumor-infiltrating and tumor-associated immune cells. Immune cells within the tumor micro (tissue-local) and macro (peripheral blood) environment closely interact by cell-to-cell contact and/or via soluble factors, also generating a tumor-permissive soil. These dangerous liaisons have been investigated for pillars of tumor immunology, such as tumor associated macrophages and T cell subsets. Here, we reviewed and discussed the contribution of selected innate immunity effector cells, namely neutrophils and natural killer cells, as \u201csoloists\u201d or by their \u201cdangerous liaisons\u201d, in favoring tumor progression by dissecting the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved

Biofilm is a major virulence determinant in bacterial colonization of chronic skin ulcers independently from the multidrug resistant phenotype

Bacterial biofilm is a major factor in delayed wound healing and high levels of biofilm production have been repeatedly described in multidrug resistant organisms (MDROs). Nevertheless, a quantitative correlation between biofilm production and the profile of antimicrobial drug resistance in delayed wound healing remains to be determined. Microbial identification, antibiotic susceptibility and biofilm production were assessed in 135 clinical isolates from 87 patients. Gram-negative bacteria were the most represented microorganisms (60.8%) with MDROs accounting for 31.8% of the total isolates. Assessment of biofilm production revealed that 80% of the strains were able to form biofilm. A comparable level of biofilm production was found with both MDRO and not-MDRO with no significant differences between groups. All the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 80% of Pseudomonas aeruginosa MDR strains were found as moderate/high biofilm producers. Conversely, less than 17% of Klebsiella pneumoniae extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL), Escherichia coli-ESBL and Acinetobacter baumannii were moderate/high biofilm producers. Notably, those strains classified as non-biofilm producers, were always associated with biofilm producer bacteria in polymicrobial colonization. This study shows that biofilm producers were present in all chronic skin ulcers, suggesting that biofilm represents a key virulence determinant in promoting bacterial persistence and chronicity of ulcerative lesions independently from the MDRO phenotype