Little attention has been devoted to whether the impact factor (IF) can be considered a responsible metric in light of bibliodiversity. This article critically engages with this question in measuring ...the following variables of IF journals included in the 2021 Journal Citation ReportsTM and examining their distribution: publishing models (hybrid, open access (OA) with or without fees, subscription), world regions, language(s) of publication, subject categories, publishers and the prices of article processing charges (APCs) if any. Our results show that the quest for prestige or perceived quality through the IF brand poses serious threats to bibliodiversity. The IF brand can indeed hardly be considered a responsible metric insofar as it perpetuates publishing concentration, maintains a domination of the Global North and its attendant artificial image of mega producer of scholarly content, does not promote linguistic diversity, and does not incentivize fair and equitable open access by entrenching fee-based OA delivery options with rather high APCs. Keywords: bibliodiversity, impact factor, research assessment, metrics, bibliometry, open access
Abstract Accelerated low water corrosion is a form of marine steel corrosion caused by bacterial activity. It has a global spread and is potentially responsible for billions of pounds of damage. We ...have determined in detail both the chemistry of corrosion products and the associated microbiology at a UK site. The corrosion products form a layered structure with iron sulfides at the steel surface and iron oxides and sulfates in contact with water. The iron sulfides are formed by reaction of steel with hydrogen sulfide formed by sulfate-reducing bacteria and are oxidised through a series of sulfur oxidation states by sulfide-oxidising bacteria, forming acid at all stages and encompassing the whole of the bacterial sulfur cycle. The bacteria involved are endemic in anoxic bed sediment, and the process is a response to the presence of steel as an electron donor, and the generation of anoxic microenvironments within corrosion products.
IntroductionClinical reasoning (CR) is a key competence for physicians and a major source of damaging medical errors. Many strategies have been explored to improve CR quality, most of them based on ...knowledge enhancement, cognitive debiasing and the use of analytical reasoning. If increasing knowledge and fostering analytical reasoning have shown some positive results, the impact of debiasing is however mixed. Debiasing and promoting analytical reasoning have also been criticised for their lack of pragmatism. Alternative means of increasing CR quality are therefore still needed. Because emotions are known to influence the quality of reasoning in general, we hypothesised that emotional competence (EC) could improve physicians’ CR. EC refers to the ability to identify, understand, express, regulate and use emotions. The influence of EC on CR remains unclear. This article presents a scoping review protocol, the aim of which will be to describe the current state of knowledge concerning the influence of EC on physicians’ CR, the type of available literature and finally the different methods used to examine the link between EC and CR.Method and analysisThe population of interest is physicians and medical students. EC will be explored according to the model of Mikolajczak et al, describing five major components of EC (identify, understand, express, regulate and use emotions). The concept of CR will include terms related to its processes and outcomes. Context will include real or simulated clinical situations. The search for primary sources and reviews will be conducted in MEDLINE (via Ovid), Scopus and PsycINFO. The grey literature will be searched in the references of included articles and in OpenGrey. Study selection and data extraction will be conducted using the Covidence software. Search and inclusion results will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for scoping review model (PRISMA-ScR).Ethics and disseminationThere are no ethical or safety concerns regarding this review.Registration detailsOSF Registration DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GM7YD.
Discriminating Escherichia albertii from other Enterobacteriaceae is difficult. Systematic analyses showed that E. albertii represents a substantial portion of strains currently identified as ...eae-positive Escherichia coli and includes Shiga toxin 2f-producing strains. Because E. albertii possesses the eae gene, many strains might have been misidentified as enterohemorrhagic or enteropathogenic E. coli.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to explore the presence of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) in a collection of S. pseudintermedius strains isolated from dogs and cats ...with dermatitis in Japan and to compare their genotypic and phenotypic characteristics. Clonal relationships were determined by pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) typing, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Biofilm formation assay was performed using safranin staining in microplates. Three virulence genes coding for S. intermedius exfoliative toxin and Panton‐Valentine leukocidin (siet, lukS‐PV and lukF‐PV) were searched for in a collection of strains. Antimicrobial resistance against 15 antibiotics was studied by a disc diffusion method. Twenty‐seven MRSP were isolated. According to PFGE results the isolates were not closely related except for a few strains. MLST showed that the strains belonged to five groups, ST71 and ST26 being the two most prevalent. Three types of SCCmec (II, II–III and V) were identified. All isolates were siet‐positive but PVL‐negative. Most strains (except for two) produced strong biofilm in tryptic soy broth with glucose. Seventy‐eight percent of the isolates were resistant or intermediate to twelve or more antibiotics. Our study demonstrates that the ST71 lineage is widespread in Japan and that ST26 could represent an emerging lineage. Moreover, most of our strains are capable of forming strong biofilm and possess siet gene, two virulence characteristics that probably help the bacteria to persist and spread. Finally, our MRSP strains show a strong resistance profile to antibiotics commonly used in veterinary medicine.
infection is a common cause of mastitis, reducing milk yield, affecting animal welfare and causing huge economic losses within the dairy industry. In addition to the problem of acquired drug ...resistance, bacterial invasion into udder cells and the formation of surface biofilms are believed to reduce antibiotic efficacy, leading to treatment failure. Here, we investigated the antimicrobial activities of enrofloxacin, an antibiotic that is commonly used in mastitis therapy and polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), an antimicrobial polymer. The antimicrobial activities were tested against intracellular
in infected Mac-T cells (host cells). Also, fluorescein-tagged PHMB was used to study PHMB uptake and localization with
within the infected Mac-T cells. Anti-biofilm activities were tested by treating
biofilms and measuring effects on biofilm mass
. Enrofloxacin and PHMB at 15 mg/L killed between 42 to 92 and 99.9% of intracellular
, respectively. PHMB-FITC entered and colocalized with the intracellular
, suggesting direct interaction of the drug with the bacteria inside the host cells. Enrofloxacin and PHMB at 15 mg/L reduced between 10 to 27% and 28 to 37% of biofilms' mass, respectively. The half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC
) obtained from a cytotoxicity assay were 345 ± 91 and 21 ± 2 mg/L for enrofloxacin and PHMB, respectively; therefore, both compounds were tolerated by the host cells at high concentrations. These findings suggest that both antimicrobials are effective against intracellular
and can disrupt biofilm structures, with PHMB being more potent against intracellular
, highlighting the potential application of PHMB in mastitis therapy.
Initial adherence to host cells is the first step of the infection of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) ...strains. The importance of this step in the infection resides in the fact that (1) adherence is the first contact between bacteria and intestinal cells without which the other steps cannot occur and (2) adherence is the basis of host specificity for a lot of pathogens. This review describes the initial adhesins of the EPEC, EHEC and VTEC strains. During the last few years, several new adhesins and putative colonisation factors have been described, especially in EHEC strains. Only a few adhesins (BfpA, AF/R1, AF/R2, Ral, F18 adhesins) appear to be host and pathotype specific. The others are found in more than one species and/or pathotype (EPEC, EHEC, VTEC). Initial adherence of EPEC, EHEC and VTEC strains to host cells is probably mediated by multiple mechanisms.
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains are responsible for food poisoning in developed countries via consumption of vegetal and animal food sources contaminated by ruminant feces, and some ...strains (O26, O111, and O118 serogroups) are also responsible for diarrhea in young calves. The prevalence of 27 putative adhesins of EHEC and of bovine necrotoxigenic E. coli (NTEC) was studied with a collection of 43 bovine and 29 human enteropathogenic (EPEC) and EHEC strains and 5 non-EPEC/non-EHEC (1 bovine and 4 human) O26 strains, using specific PCRs. Four "groups" of adhesins exist, including adhesins present in all O26 strains, adhesins present in most O26 strains, adhesins present in a few O26 strains, and adhesins not present in O26 strains. The common profile of EHEC/EPEC strains was characterized by the presence of loc3, loc5, loc7, loc11, loc14, paa, efa1, iha, lpfAO₂₆, and lpfAO₁₁₃ genes and the absence of loc1, loc2, loc6, loc12, loc13, saa, and eibG genes. Except for the lpfAO₂₆ gene, which was marginally associated with bovine EHEC/EPEC strains in comparison with human strains (P = 0.012), none of the results significantly differentiated bovine strains from human strains. One adhesin gene (ldaE) was statistically (P < 0.01) associated with O26 EHEC/EPEC strains isolated from diarrheic calves in comparison with strains isolated from healthy calves. ldaE-positive strains could therefore represent a subgroup possessing the specific property of producing diarrhea in young calves. This is the first time that the distribution of putative adhesins has been described for such a large collection of EHEC/EPEC O26 strains isolated from both humans and cattle.
Aerated Constructed Wetlands are a state-of-the-art design that provides a different physical and chemical environment (compared to traditional passive wetland designs) for the wastewater treatment ...processes and, thus, may have different pathogen removal characteristics. In order to establish the fate of bacterial and viral indicators, a field study was carried out at a Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in the UK (serving 20,000 pe). The STW consists of primary and secondary sedimentation tanks and trickling filters (TF) as the biological stage. A large (1,160 m2) pilot aerated Vertical Flow Constructed Wetland (AVFCW) was constructed at the STW as tertiary stage receiving ¼ of the total flow rate, i.e., 1250 m3/day. Effluent quality of the AVFCW complied with national and international standards for environmental discharge and reuse. For the first time, two sets of bacterial (Faecal coliforms, E.coli and intestinal enterococci) and viral indicators (Somatic coliphages, F-RNA specific bacteriophages and human-specific B. fragilis GB124 phages) were simultaneously investigated in an AVFCW and TF. High elimination rates were detected (up to 3.7 and 2.2 log reduction for bacteria indicators and phages, respectively) and strong correlations between the two sets were found. The superior efficiency of the aerated Constructed Wetlands in microbiological contamination removal compared to passive wetland systems was established for the first time, which may have implications for process selection for wastewater reuse. This field study therefore provides new evidence on the fate of bacteriophages and a first indication of their potential use for performance evaluation in TF and aerated Constructed Wetlands. It also demonstrates that the combination of TF with aerated constructed wetlands could be a novel and effective treatment scheme for new STW or for the upgrade of existing STW.
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•Trickling filters and an experimental aerated Constructed Wetland were investigated.•Effluent quality below discharge legal limits even without a final disinfection step•2–3.5log removal efficiency of three bacterial and three bacteriophages indicators•Strong correlations imply phages use as performance indicators in aerated wetlands.•Aerated Wetlands outperform passive systems in microbiological contamination removal.
Enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohaemorrhagic (EHEC) Escherichia coli are responsible for food poisoning (enteritis and enterotoxaemia) in humans in developed countries. Cattle are considered to be ...an important reservoir of EHEC and EPEC strains for humans. Moreover, some of the strains, belonging to the O26, O111, O118 serogroups, for example, are also responsible for digestive disorders in calves. The Translocated intimin receptor (Tir), the intimin (Eae) and the Tir-cytoskeleton coupling protein (TccP) represent three virulence factors implicated in the intimate attachment of the bacteria to the eukaryotic cell. Major variants have already been described for these genes among the different serogroups but minor variations have not often been studied. In this study, we examined the polymorphisms of the tir, eae and tccP2 genes of O26 strains (EPEC and EHEC isolated from bovines and from humans) with the aim to determine whether these polymorphisms are host specific or not.
Of the 70 tested strains, 10 strains (14% of the strains) presented one or several polymorphisms in the tir and eae genes, which have never previously been described. Concerning tccP2 detection, 47 of the 70 strains (67% of the strains) were found to be positive for this gene. Most of the strains were found to possess tccP2 variants described in strains of serogroup O26. Nevertheless, three strains had tccP2 genes respectively described in strains of serogroup O111, O103 and O55. Moreover, none of the polymorphisms was statistically specific to the bovine or the human isolates. Nevertheless, the two major variants of tccP2 were statistically associated with the pathotype (EPEC or EHEC).
In conclusion, tir and eae gene polymorphisms were found not to be numerous and not to be predominantly synonymous. Moreover, no difference was observed between human and bovine strains regarding the presence of polymorphisms. Finally, some tccP2 variants appeared to be pathotype specific. Further investigations need to be performed on a larger number of strains in order to confirm this specificity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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