The 2019 11th International Conference on Hantaviruses (ICH 2019) was organized by the International Society for Hantaviruses (ISH), and held on September 1–4, 2019, at the Irish College, in Leuven, ...Belgium. These ICHs have been held every three years since 1989. ICH 2019 was attended by 158 participants from 33 countries. The current report summarizes research presented on all aspects of hantavirology: ecology; pathogenesis and immune responses; virus phylogeny, replication and morphogenesis; epidemiology; vaccines, therapeutics and prevention; and clinical aspects and diagnosis.
•The 11th International Congress on Hantaviruses (ICH) was held in Leuven, Belgium, September 1–4, 2019.•New data were presented on hantavirus structure, mechanisms of cell entry, and pathways of immunopathology.•Phylogenetic analysis of hantavirus sequences from patients' sera and rodent hosts showed geographic-specific clustering.•The number of novel hantaviruses in non-rodent reservoirs (shrews, moles, and bats) is growing steadily.•Passive immunotherapy with neutralizing antibodies from patients, or from transchromosomic bovines, seem promising.
Research suggests contact sports affect neurological health. This study used permutation-based mediation statistics to integrate measures of metabolomics, neuroinflammatory miRNAs, and virtual ...reality (VR)-based motor control to investigate multi-scale relationships across a season of collegiate American football. Fourteen significant mediations (six pre-season, eight across-season) were observed where metabolites always mediated the statistical relationship between miRNAs and VR-based motor control (pSobelperm≤ 0.05; total effect > 50%), suggesting a hypothesis that metabolites sit in the statistical pathway between transcriptome and behavior. Three results further supported a model of chronic neuroinflammation, consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction: (1) Mediating metabolites were consistently medium-to-long chain fatty acids, (2) tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites decreased across-season, and (3) accumulated head acceleration events statistically moderated pre-season metabolite levels to directionally model post-season metabolite levels. These preliminary findings implicate potential mitochondrial dysfunction and highlight probable peripheral blood biomarkers underlying repetitive head impacts in otherwise healthy collegiate football athletes.
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•Permutation-based mediation statistics can be applied to multi-scale biology problems•Fatty acids were a critical link between elevated miRNAs and motor control•HAEs interacted with pre-season metabolite levels to model post-season levels•Together, our observations point to brain-related mitochondrial dysfunction
Trauma; Metabolomics; Transcriptomics; Computer graphics
To determine if women with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) treated with a PARPi have a diminished response to subsequent platinum-based chemotherapy (PBC) compared to PARPi-naïve historical controls ...given potential overlap in mechanisms of resistance.
This was a retrospective cohort study of women with EOC who received a PARPi between 09/01/2013 and 05/31/2021 in a managed care setting, followed by post-PARPi chemotherapy and subsequent disease recurrence. PARPi resistance was defined as progression during PARPi therapy. Second overall response rate (2ORR) and second progression free survival after post-PARPi chemotherapy (2PFS) are reported. Nonparametric Wilcoxon rankssum tests were used to compare non-normally distributed continuous variables. Binomial proportion and one sample median tests were used for exploratory comparison of 2ORR and 2PFS respectively with historical data.
A total of 253 patients with EOC received a PARPi during the pre-specified dates and were eligible for inclusion. Of these, 141 were not yet evaluable for outcomes from subsequent therapy. A total of 112 patients were evaluable for secondary outcomes following PARPi as front-line maintenance (FLMaint, 18, 16.1%), second-line or higher maintenance (2LMaint, 52, 46.4%) or treatment (41, 37.5%). Within this cohort, PARPi resistance was documented in 94.4% of these patients during FLMaint, 92.3% during 2LMaint, and 97.6% during treatment (p=.538). Of the 106 patients with PARPi resistance, half went on to receive PBC. 2ORR to post-PARPi PBC was 43.4% and median 2PFS was 7.8 months. There were insufficient numbers of PARPi-sensitive patients to include in our analysis (n=6). With future inclusion of additional patients completing post-PARPi therapy, the 2ORR and 2PFS of PARPi-resistant/sensitive patients will be updated and compared to PARPi-naïve historical controls.
We hypothesize that PARPi resistance is associated with relative resistance to subsequent PBC and will better elucidate this relationship with the planned inclusion of additional subjects. This hypothesis, if confirmed, may be important for future treatment paradigms and may contribute to the lack of advantage in overall survival observed in many PARPi studies. Display omitted
Contact sports affect measures at multiple scales such as transcriptomics, metabolomics, brain function, and behavior, but studies have not yet studied the statistical structure of how they are ...integrated. This preliminary study, examining collegiate American football players, integrated across-season changes (Δ) from transcriptomic and metabolomic variables (neuroinflammatory miRNAs and metabolites), neuroimaging (resting-state fMRI network fingerprint similarity), and virtual reality (VR)-based motor control. These findings were then assessed against head acceleration events (HAE). Using permutation-based moderation analysis (all pFperm,pβ3perm≤0.05), we observed that (1) Δtridecenedioate, a mono-unsaturated fatty acid, interacted with ΔmiR-505 to predict default mode network (DMN) fingerprint similarity, meaning the interaction between two molecular biology measures predicted a neuroimaging measure. Further, (2) Δtridecenedioate and DMN fingerprint similarity interacted to predict motor control, indicating the interaction of a molecular and a neuroimaging measure predicted behavior. ΔmiR-505 was positively related to HAE and DMN fingerprint similarity was negatively related to HAE and reduced relative to non-athlete subjects. These multi-scale, moderating relationships between a potential ROS scavenger, neuroinflammatory miRNA, reduced brain connectivity, and diminished motor control argue that seemingly healthy athletes with frequent HAE may experience chronic neuroinflammation. This imaging-omics framework using permutation-based mediation/moderation analysis has general applicability for human-animal translational studies.
•First study integrating multi-omic measures with imaging and behavior in humans.•First study showing two molecular measures predict a neuroimaging measure.•First study showing interaction of molecular and imaging measures predicts behavior.•Omic measures suggest chronic inflammation in otherwise healthy football players.•Permutation with mediation/moderation statistics promotes integratory neuroscience.
Unsustainable urbanization in the Indo-Pacific continues to threaten terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems due to habitat disturbances driven by human pressures. The Marikina Watershed, one of the most ...critical watersheds in the Philippines, has been exposed to economic and population growth resulting in landscape modification and water quality degradation. This led to establishment of the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape (UMRBPL) to rehabilitate the watershed ecosystem. To strengthen this conservation initiative, we aimed to assess whether the establishment of UMRBPL has been effective in conservation of benthic macroinvertebrate diversity in streams of the Marikina Watershed. Sixteen streams, eight from UMRBPL and eight from adjoining unprotected areas, were monitored for benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages and their habitat environments, such as pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, conductivity, salinity, and canopy openness. Principal component analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling based on the environmental variables and biological metrics, respectively, revealed that habitat quality and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages significantly differed between the protected and unprotected streams, with the former having better environment and higher biodiversity. More precisely, protected streams have significantly higher dissolved oxygen and lower canopy openness and material loadings as compared to unprotected streams. Consequently, taxon richness was four-fold higher in protected streams while stream quality indices based on abundance of key invertebrate groups (EPTand EPTC) were ten-fold higher in protected streams, as compared to unprotected streams. This study demonstrates that freshwater protected areas play crucial roles in the conservation of stream ecosystems and biodiversity under rapid urbanization in developing countries, like the Philippines. Keywords: Philippines, biomonitoring, freshwater protected area, watershed governance, tropical streams, Aichi Target 11
Lately, one of the major clinical and public health issues has been represented by Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) during pregnancy and the risk of transmission of the infection from mother to ...child. Debate on perinatal management and postnatal care is still ongoing, principally questioning the option of the joint management of mother and child after birth and the safety of breastfeeding. According to the available reports, neonatal COVID-19 appears to have a horizontal transmission and seems to be paucisymptomatic or asymptomatic, compared to older age groups. The aim of this work is to describe a cluster of neonatal COVID-19 and discuss our experience, with reference to current evidence on postnatal care and perinatal management.
This is a retrospective observational case series of five mother-child dyads, who attended the Labor and Delivery Unit of a first-level hospital in Italy, in March 2020. Descriptive statistics for continuous variables consisted of number of observations, mean and the range of the minimum and maximum values.
Five women and four neonates tested positive for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In one case, the mother-child dyad was separated and the neonate remained negative on two consecutive tests. Two positive neonates developed symptoms, with a predominant involvement of the gastrointestinal tract. Blood tests were unremarkable, except for a single patient who developed mild neutropenia. No complications occurred.
We agree that the decision on whether or not to separate a positive/suspected mother from her child should be made on an individual basis, taking into account the parent's will, clinical condition, hospital logistics and the local epidemiological situation. In conformity with literature, in our study, affected neonates were asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic. Despite these reassuring findings, a few cases of severe presentation in the neonatal population have been reported. Therefore, we agree on encouraging clinicians to monitor the neonates with a suspected or confirmed infection.
Sponge-microbe symbiosis is considered among the most primitive ecological relationships between metazoans and microorganisms. There is strong interest in understanding the occurrence of microbial ...communities in sponges due to their integral roles in host ecology, nutrient cycling, and production of potential bioactive secondary metabolites. However, most studies on sponges have been centered on marine species. In this study, the freshwater sponge Spongilla alba and its associated microorganisms were explored for the first time. Sponge samples collected from Lake Taal were taxonomically identified using gross morphology and spicules analysis. Both bacterial and fungal isolates were culturally characterized and molecularly identified using 16S rRNA gene for bacteria and ITS for fungi. Five bacterial species were identified as Pseudomonas sp., Enterococcus sp., Stenotrophomonas sp., Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Pseudomonas mosselii plus eight fungal species with spore sizes from 5–10 μm were identified as Colletotrichum truncatum, Trichosporon asahii, Rhizopus microsporus, Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici strain, Talaromyces columbinus, Phoma sp., Phomopsis sp., and Lichtheimia ramosa. Phylogenetic analysis revealed microbial sequences belonging to Proteobacteria (n = 4), Firmicutes (n = 1), Ascomycota (n = 4), Zygomycota (n = 2), and Basidiomycota (n = 2). The study reports infrequent occurrences of Enterococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Puccinia, and Lichtheimia species as freshwater sponge-associated microbes. This also presents the culturable microbial composition of freshwater sponges and rare occurrence of marine- and terrestrial-associated fungi T. asahii, R. microsporus, Phoma sp., Phomopsis sp., C. truncatum, and T. columbinus in a unique freshwater ecosystem such as Lake Taal.
In 1998, Senegal launched one of Africa's first antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. Since then, the number of treated patients in Africa has substantially increased thanks to simplification in ...treatment management. Although good outcomes over the first years of ART have been observed in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the long-term (>5 years) risks of virological failure and drug resistance and about second-line treatment response.
Patients from the ANRS-1215 cohort in Senegal, started with either one nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor or indinavir, a first-generation nonboosted protease inhibitor, followed for >6 months and having >1 viral load (VL) measurement were included. Virological failure was defined as 2 consecutive VL measurements >1000 copies/mL.
Of the 366 patients included, 89% achieved a VL <500 copies/mL. The risk of virological failure at 12, 24, and 60 months was 5%, 16%, and 25%, being higher in younger patients (P = 0.05), those receiving a protease inhibitor-containing regimen (P = 0.05), and those with lower adherence (P = 0.03). The risk of resistance to any drug at 12, 24, and 60 months was 3%, 11%, and 18%. After virological failure, 60% of the patients were switched to second-line treatments. Although 81% of the patients achieved virological success, the risk of virological failure was 27% at 24 months, mostly in patients with multiple resistances.
In this cohort, virological outcomes for first-line treatments were good compared with those from high-resource settings. However, the rate of virological failure for second-line treatment was high, probably because of accumulation of resistances.
Activity of synthetic peptides against Chlamydia Donati, Manuela; Cenacchi, Giovanna; Biondi, Roberta ...
Biopolymers,
November 2017, 2017-Nov, 2017-11-00, 20171101, Letnik:
108, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The in vitro activity of six synthetic peptides against 36 strains of Chlamydia from different origins was investigated. Clavanin MO (CMO) proved to be the most active peptide, reducing the inclusion ...number of all Chlamydia strains from eight different species tested by ≥50% at 10 µg mL−1. Mastoparan L showed an equal activity against C. trachomatis, C. pneumoniae, C. suis, and C. muridarum, but did not exert any inhibitory effect against C. psittaci, C. pecorum, C. abortus, and C. avium even at 80 µg mL−1. These data suggest that CMO could be a promising compound in the prevention and treatment of chlamydial infections.
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