A study was conducted to compare cocaine-dependent patients with and without an opioid use disorder in an effort to identify important clinical similarities and differences between the two groups.
Electronic equipment (IDM-1) especially designed for the application of voltammetric and impedometric electronic tongues is described. For impedance spectroscopy the equipment permits the generation ...of sinusoidal signals with a frequency in the range of 1Hz to 1MHz and programmable amplitude up to 1 Vpp. For voltammetry the IDM-1 equipment generates a sequence of up to 32 pulses with an amplitude that can be configured for each of the pulses in the range −0.5; +0.5V. Voltammetric studies were performed using a total of eight working electrodes (i.e. Au, Pt, Ir, Rh, Ag, Cu, Ni, and Co) which were housed in a stainless steel cylinder used at the same time as both the body of the electronic tongue system and the counter/reference electrode. The width of the pulses can also be configured with a maximum value of 40ms. The system consists of a software application that runs on a PC and electronic equipment. In order to test the capabilities of the designed system, impedometric and voltammetric measurements were carried out on five different commercial cola drinks (brands I–V). Three different waveforms were used in the voltammetric study (i.e. staircase, ascendant SAPV and descendant SAPV). The voltammetric response and the impedance phase and module values obtained were processed using PCA. A remarkable discrimination between all cola drinks was seen using the descendant waveform and a group of metal electrodes (Ni, Co, Cu, Ag). In contrast, impedance spectroscopy technique discriminated one brand (brand I) from the others.
Septins are a family of GTP-binding proteins identified in insects and mammals. Septins are components of the cytoskeleton and participate in cytokinesis, chromosomal segregation, intracellular ...vesicular traffic, and response to pathogens. Human septin 6 was identified as necessary for hepatitis C virus replication. Information about host factors necessary for flavivirus replication in mosquitoes is scarce. Thus, the role of septins in the replicative cycle of dengue virus in Aedes spp. derived cells was investigated. Through bioinformatic analysis, sequences of septin-like proteins were identified. Infected mosquito cells showed increased expression of Sep2. Colocalization analysis, proximity ligation and immunoprecipitation assays indicated that Sep2 interacts with proteins E, NS3 and NS5, but not NS1. Immunoelectron microscopy evidenced the presence of AalSep2 in replicative complexes. Finally, silencing of Sep2 expression resulted in a significant decrease in virus progeny, indicating that Sep2 is a host factor participating in dengue virus replication in mosquito cells.
•Aedes albopictus and A. aegypti cell lines have four genes coding for canonical Septin proteins.•Mosquito DNV infected cells increase Septin2 protein production.•In dengue virus infected Aedes spp. cell lines, Septin 2 protein binds to E, NS3 and NS5, but not to NS1.•Sep2 silencing decreases viral progeny but not genome molecules production.
Flying is an essential function for mosquitoes, required for mating and, in the case of females, to get a blood meal and consequently function as a vector. Flight depends on the action of the ...indirect flight muscles (IFMs), which power the wings beat. No description of the development of IFMs in mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, is available.
A. aegypti thoraces of larvae 3 and larvae 4 (L3 and L4) instars were analyzed using histochemistry and bright field microscopy. IFM primordia from L3 and L4 and IFMs from pupal and adult stages were dissected and processed to detect F-actin labelling with phalloidin-rhodamine or TRITC, or to immunodetection of myosin and tubulin using specific antibodies, these samples were analyzed by confocal microscopy. Other samples were studied using transmission electron microscopy.
At L3-L4, IFM primordia for dorsal-longitudinal muscles (DLM) and dorsal-ventral muscles (DVM) were identified in the expected locations in the thoracic region: three primordia per hemithorax corresponding to DLM with anterior to posterior orientation were present. Other three primordia per hemithorax, corresponding to DVM, had lateral position and dorsal to ventral orientation. During L3 to L4 myoblast fusion led to syncytial myotubes formation, followed by myotendon junctions (MTJ) creation, myofibrils assembly and sarcomere maturation. The formation of Z-discs and M-line during sarcomere maturation was observed in pupal stage and, the structure reached in teneral insects a classical myosin thick, and actin thin filaments arranged in a hexagonal lattice structure.
A general description of A. aegypti IFM development is presented, from the myoblast fusion at L3 to form myotubes, to sarcomere maturation at adult stage. Several differences during IFM development were observed between A. aegypti (Nematoceran) and Drosophila melanogaster (Brachyceran) and, similitudes with Chironomus sp. were observed as this insect is a Nematoceran, which is taxonomically closer to A. aegypti and share the same number of larval stages.
To describe the experience of treatment with baricitinib (BARI) and/or tocilizumab (TCZ), in monotherapy or combined, in patients admitted for interstitial pneumonia secondary to COVID19, and for 30 ...days after discharge.
Medical records of patients admitted with COVID19 and IP with PaO
/FiO
<300, treated with BARI and/or TCZ, and compared with patients who did not, were retrospectively reviewed.
Sixty patients were included; 43 (72%) are males, mean age 67 (SD: 14) years (<50 years: 17%; 51-70: 30%; >70: 53%), with 8.5 (SD: 1) days of symptoms. Sixteen (27%) patients required ICU (94% in <70 years). Fifteen (25%) patients died, 67% in >70 years; 11 (18%) patients died in the first 15 days of admission and 4 (7%) between days 16 to 30. Twenty-three (38%) patients received BARI, 12 (52%) monotherapy (Group 1), during 6 (SD: 2.6) days on average, none required ICU and 2 (17%) died. Thirty-one (52%) patients received TCZ, 20 (33%) as monotherapy (Group 2), 16 (52%) patients required ICU and 4 (20%) died. In the 11 (18%) patients who received BARI (2.8 SD: 2.5 days average) and TCZ combined (Group 3), 3 (27%) required ICU and died. There were no severe side effects in BARI or TCZ patients. In the 17 (28%) patients who received neither BARI nor TCZ (Group 4), none required ICU and 6 (35%) died. Mean (SD) PaO
/FiO
at admission between groups was respectively: 167 (82.3), 221 (114.9), 236 (82.3), 276 (83.2).
Treatment with BARI and TCZ did not cause serious side effects. They could be considered early in patients with NI secondary to COVID19 and impaired PaO2/PaFi.
•An extensive rainfall-runoff-erosion database was compiled in the Mediterranean basin.•We analyzed the relationships between weather types, rainfall, runoff and sediment yield.•Most rainfall, ...runoff, and sediment yield occurred in a small number of weather types.•Four spatial classes driven by N-NW, E-NE, S-SE and W-SW flows dominated rainfall/runoff.•Three classes were identified for sediment yield, comprising N-NE, E and W-SW flows.
Soil degradation by water is a serious environmental problem worldwide, with specific climatic factors being the major causes. We investigated the relationships between synoptic atmospheric patterns (i.e. weather types, WTs) and runoff, erosion and sediment yield throughout the Mediterranean basin by analyzing a large database of natural rainfall events at 68 research sites in 9 countries. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify spatial relationships of the different WTs including three hydro-sedimentary variables: rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield (SY, used to refer to both soil erosion measured at plot scale and sediment yield registered at catchment scale). The results indicated 4 spatial classes of rainfall and runoff: (a) northern sites dependent on North (N) and North West (NW) flows; (b) eastern sites dependent on E and NE flows; (c) southern sites dependent on S and SE flows; and, finally, (d) western sites dependent on W and SW flows. Conversely, three spatial classes are identified for SY characterized by: (a) N and NE flows in northern sites (b) E flows in eastern sites, and (c) W and SW flows in western sites. Most of the rainfall, runoff and SY occurred during a small number of daily events, and just a few WTs accounted for large percentages of the total. Our results confirm that characterization by WT improves understanding of the general conditions under which runoff and SY occur, and provides useful information for understanding the spatial variability of runoff, and SY throughout the Mediterranean basin. The approach used here could be useful to aid of the design of regional water management and soil conservation measures.
Objectives:
The study aimed to characterize the clonal spread of resistant bacteria and dissemination of resistance plasmids among carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales at a tertiary hospital in ...Catalonia, Spain.
Methods:
Isolates were recovered from surveillance rectal swabs and diagnostic samples. Species identification was by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Molecular typing was performed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Antimicrobial susceptibility was assessed by gradient-diffusion and carriage of
bla
genes was detected by PCR. Plasmid typing, conjugation assays, S1-PFGE studies and long-read sequencing were used to characterize resistance plasmids.
Results:
From July 2018 to February 2019, 125
Klebsiella pneumoniae
carbapenemase (KPC)-producing Enterobacterales were recovered from 101 inpatients from surveillance (74.4%) or clinical samples (25.6%), in a tertiary hospital in Barcelona. Clonality studies identified a major clone of
Klebsiella pneumoniae
belonging to sequence type ST15 and additional isolates of
K. pneumoniae
,
Escherichia coli
and
Enterobacter
sp. from different STs. All isolates but one carried the
bla
KPC–2
allelic variant. The
bla
KPC–2
gene was located in an IncFIIk plasmid of circa 106 Kb in a non-classical Tn
4401
element designated NTE
KPC
-pMC-2-1. Whole-genome sequencing revealed different rearrangements of the 106 Kb plasmid while the NTE
KPC
-pMC-2-1 module was highly conserved.
Conclusion:
We report a hospital outbreak caused by the clonal dissemination of KPC-producing ST15
K. pneumoniae
but also the intra- and inter-species transmission of the
bla
KPC–2
gene associated with plasmid conjugation and/or transposon dissemination. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an outbreak caused by KPC-producing Enterobacterales isolated from human patients in Catalonia and highlights the relevance of surveillance studies in the early detection and control of antibiotic resistant high-risk clones.
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