Diverse genetic backgrounds often lead to phenotypic heterogeneity in cardiomyopathies (CMPs). Previous genotype-phenotype studies have primarily focused on the analysis of a single phenotype, and ...the diagnostic and prognostic features of the CMP genotype across different phenotypic expressions remain poorly understood.
We sought to define differences in outcome prediction when stratifying patients based on phenotype at presentation compared with genotype in a large cohort of patients with CMPs and positive genetic testing.
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, left-dominant arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, and biventricular arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy were examined in this study. A total of 281 patients (80% DCM) with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants were included. The primary and secondary outcomes were: 1) all-cause mortality (D)/heart transplant (HT); 2) sudden cardiac death/major ventricular arrhythmias (SCD/MVA); and 3) heart failure-related death (DHF)/HT/left ventricular assist device implantation (LVAD).
Survival analysis revealed that SCD/MVA events occurred more frequently in patients without a DCM phenotype and in carriers of DSP, PKP2, LMNA, and FLNC variants. However, after adjustment for age and sex, genotype-based classification, but not phenotype-based classification, was predictive of SCD/MVA. LMNA showed the worst trends in terms of D/HT and DHF/HT/LVAD.
Genotypes were associated with significant phenotypic heterogeneity in genetic cardiomyopathies. Nevertheless, in our study, genotypic-based classification showed higher precision in predicting the outcome of patients with CMP than phenotype-based classification. These findings add to our current understanding of inherited CMPs and contribute to the risk stratification of patients with positive genetic testing.
Genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi may play a role in pathogenesis of Chagas disease forms. Natural populations are classified into 6 Discrete Typing Units (DTUs) Tc I-VI with taxonomical status. ...This study aimed to identify T. cruzi DTUs in bloodstream and tissue samples of Argentinean patients with Chagas disease. PCR-based strategies allowed DTU identification in 256 clinical samples from 239 Argentinean patients. Tc V prevailed in blood from both asymptomatic and symptomatic cases and Tc I was more frequent in bloodstream, cardiac tissues and chagoma samples from immunosuppressed patients. Tc II and VI were identified in a minority of cases, while Tc III and Tc IV were not detected in the studied population. Interestingly, Tc I and Tc II/VI sequences were amplified from the same skin biopsy slice from a kidney transplant patient suffering Chagas disease reactivation. Further data also revealed the occurrence of mixed DTU populations in the human chronic infection. In conclusion, our findings provide evidence of the complexity of the dynamics of T. cruzi diversity in the natural history of human Chagas disease and allege the pathogenic role of DTUs I, II, V and VI in the studied population.
We investigated the susceptibility of an Italian population of Culex pipiens mosquitoes to Zika virus (ZIKV) infection, tested in parallel with Aedes aegypti, as a positive control. We analysed ...mosquitoes at 0, 3, 7, 10, 14, 20 and 24 days after an infectious blood meal. Viral RNA was detected in the body of Cx. pipiens up to three days post-infection, but not at later time points. Our results indicate that Cx. pipiens is not susceptible to ZIKV infection.
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•Robotic technology is experiencing a vast application in the industrial sector.•The robots can convey remarkable benefits including safety, efficiency and hygiene.•Several food ...operations will exploit the use of robots replicating human movements.•Unconstrained and controlled 3D movements would allow precise food operations.•Disruptive applications involve additive manufacturing technology and food gastronomy.
Robots in manufacturing alleviate hazardous environmental conditions, reduce the physical/mental stress of the workers, maintain high precision for repetitive movements, reduce errors, speed up production, and minimize production costs. Although robots have pervaded many industrial sectors and domestic environments, the experiments in the food sectors are limited to pick-and-place operations and meat processing while we are assisting new attention in gastronomy. Given the great performances of the robots, there would be many other intriguing applications to explore which could usher the transition to precision food manufacturing. This review wants open thoughts and opinions on the use of robots in different food operations. First, we reviewed the recent advances in common applications - e.g. novel sensors, end-effectors, and robotic cutting. Then, we analyzed the use of robots in other operations such as cleaning, mixing/kneading, dough manipulation, precision dosing/cooking, and additive manufacturing. Finally, the most recent improvements of robotics in gastronomy with their use in restaurants/bars and domestic environments, are examined. The comprehensive analyses and the critical discussion highlighted the needs of further scientific understanding and exploitation activities aimed to fill the gap between the laboratory-scale results and the validation in the relevant environment.
A multi-disciplinary approach based on the biorefinery of microalgae biomass (Chlorella sorokiniana) to remove the lipid fraction responsible of the green color and the ‘fishy’ aroma and vacuum ...impregnation technique to create innovative apple snacks with improved nutritional properties has been investigated. The pressure (150 mbar – 650 mbar), vacuum time (1–7 min) and relaxation time (3–13 min) were modulated by using a Box-Behnken experimental design. The filling of apple pores occurred with a maximum gaining weight of 19.5% and a reduction of porosity fraction from 15.32% to less than 5% but only the pressure and relaxation time significantly affect the level of impregnation. While the texture did not show any difference compared to fresh apples, the color of impregnated apple was affected with minor change in comparison.
Results positively fuel the food chain sustainability by proposing multidisciplinary tools that combine microalgae cultivation, biorefinery and vacuum impregnation processing capable to improve the nutritional quality of fruit products. Biorefinery is proved to be an essential technology for fractionating chemical compounds from raw microalgae and improving their potential use in food industry as source of nutrient by eliminating some undesired components such as lipid fractions related to the fishy aroma. Finally, the obtained results may be used as basic protocols for the optimization of VI treatments aiming to enrich fruit product of proteins and micronutrients.
•Biorefinery of microalgal biomass and VI have been synergistically used.•The strategy served to get high nutritious and sensory appreciated apple snacks.•An impregnating solution of 5% in lipid extracted residue of C.sorokiniana was used.•Impregnated apples were high in minerals while no changes in color was observed.•Furthers studies will allow to increase the fraction of impregnated microalgae.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and public health measures that took place have led to concerns regarding mental health and receipt of psychotropic medications. We aimed to study the ...changes in psychotropic medication dispensation rates before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the general population.
Administrative health data from the Canadian province of Manitoba was used to describe the quarterly incidence and prevalence of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anxiolytic/sedative-hypnotics from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2020. Individuals who received at least one prescription within each quarter were considered exposed to the medication. The denominator was the total population within each quarter. Incidence was defined as no receipt of medication in the 3 years prior to the quarter of interest. Autoregression models for time series data plus indicator variables were used to compare each quarter of 2020 after public health measures were implemented in March 2020 in relation to the expected trend. Analyses were stratified by age and sex.
There were 1,394,885 individuals in the first quarter of 2020, with a mean (SD) age of 38.9 (23.4) years, 50.3% were female, and 36.1% had a psychiatric diagnosis in the previous 5 years. A significant decrease was observed for incident antidepressant use (
< 0.05 for both sexes and all age groups except for those 65 years and older) and anxiolytic use (
< 0.05 for both sexes and all age groups except 80 years and older) in the second quarter (April-June) of 2020 compared to the expected trend. Females and those aged 40 years and older had a significantly higher incidence of antidepressant and antipsychotic use in the final quarter of 2020 compared to the expected trend (
< 0.05).
Our findings indicate a decrease in new prescriptions for antidepressants and anxiolytics in the 3 months after COVID-19 in-person restrictions were first implemented. We then observed an increase in the new use of antidepressants and antipsychotics at the end of 2020, in females and people aged 40 years and older, with the highest rates of use in the population 80 years and older.
The clinically established gold-based antiarthritic drug auranofin (AF) manifests a pronounced reactivity toward thiol and selenol groups of proteins. In particular, AF behaves as a potent inhibitor ...of mammalian thioredoxin reductases causing severe intracellular oxidative stress. Given the high sensitivity of Plasmodium falciparum to oxidative stress, we thought that auranofin might act as an effective antimalarial agent. Thus, we report here new experimental results showing that auranofin and a few related gold complexes strongly inhibit P. falciparum growth in vitro. The observed antiplasmodial effects probably arise from direct inhibition of P. falciparum thioredoxin reductase. The above findings and the safe toxicity profile of auranofin warrant rapid evaluation of AF for malaria treatment in animal models.
Citizen science has been particularly effective in gathering reliable, timely, large-scale data on the presence and distributions of animal species, including mosquito vectors of human and zoonotic ...pathogens. This involves the participation of citizen scientists in research projects, with success strongly dependent on the capacity to disseminate project information and engage citizen scientists to contribute their time. Mosquito Alert is a citizen science that aids in the system surveillances of vector mosquitoes. It involves citizen scientists providing expert-validated photos of targeted mosquitoes, along with records of bites and breeding sites. Since 2020 the system has been disseminated throughout Europe. This article uses models to analyze the effect of promotion activities carried out by the Mosquito Alert ITALIA team from October 2020 to December 2022 on the number of citizen scientists recruited and engaged in the project, and their performance in mosquito identification. Results show a high level of citizen scientist recruitment (N > 18.000; 37 % of overall European participants). This was achieved mostly through articles generated by ad hoc press releases detailing the app's goals and functioning. Press releases were more effective when carried out at the beginning and end of the mosquito season and when mosquito's public health significance was emphasized. Despite the high number of records received (N > 20.000), only 30 % of registered participants sent records, and the probability of a participant sending a record dropped off quickly over time after first registering. Among participants who contributed, ∼50 % sent 1 record, ∼30 % ≥3 and 4 % >10 records. Participants showed good capacity to identify mosquitoes and improve identification skills with app usage. The results will be valuable for anyone interested in evaluating citizen science, as participation and engagement are seldom quantitatively assessed. Our results are also useful for designing dissemination and education strategies in citizen science projects associated with arthropod vector monitoring.
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•High citizen scientists recruitment via press releases detailing app goals and functionality•Despite high app records, one-third of participants engaging sends at least one report•Reporting peaks at registration (11.5 %), declines sharply, nears zero after ∼50 days•Participants' accuracy starts at 61 %, reaching 75 % in mosquito identification through app use
3D Food Printing has gaining interest to create food with personalized properties. In order to customize the texture it is necessary to explore whether and how 3D printing process per se has ...consequences on the mechanical features. As test case, a cubical cereal-based structure was manufactured by traditional processing and 3D printing. Microstructure properties and mechanical attributes were analyzed. Here we show that 3D printing clearly affects the microstructure generating bigger pores, less in number and like-round in shape. Also, we have observed that the positions of the pores are greatly driven by the printing movements. These features significantly affect the mechanical properties of 3D samples showing high hardness, chewiness and cohesiveness. The obtained data have been linked and interpreted on the basis of three main key-points: 1. the printing path; 2. the imbalance between speed printing and extrusion rate; 3. the compression of the food formula in the extrusion system. These findings should be considered for creating food with innovative texture perceptions.
Industrial relevance: The creation of 3D printed food with programmed texture has the ambitions of getting personalized properties improving industry competitiveness by novel texture perceptions and also helping to mitigate swallowing or mastication problems of vulnerable peoples. Here we show that 3D Printing process per se – intrinsically – modifies the morphology and the distribution of pores in 3D structure thereby affecting the texture of cereal-based snacks. All these because pores generation is not ‘randomly’ distributed as for traditional manufacturing methods but driven by printing movements previously planned during the slicing of digital model. With the aim to get personalized food texture the intimate relationship between the movements of printing and the food texture shall taken into account by interested industries and producers.
•3D Food Printing may help to create food having personalized texture;•We explored the effect of 3D printing on microstructure and texture;•Cereal-based snack obtained by traditional methods and 3D printing were compared;•The morphology and distribution of pores were driven by the printing movements;•High hardness, chewiness and cohesiveness were measured in 3D printed snacks;
•Rooting depth and yield were sampled in wheat and triticale genotype-groups in the field.•Genotype-groups differed in shoot attributes, such as early vigour, tillering and height.•From those, only ...triticale differed in rooting depth, growing deeper than wheat.•Yield correlated with rooting depth at a genotype-group level.
Modelling and limited data suggest that crops with deeper and longer roots capture more soil resources and yield more when water is available deeper in soil profiles. Interest has grown in the development of new cultivars with deeper roots. This study provides data from three field experiments to help researchers and breeders continue to assess the value of selecting for deeper roots for yield and water use efficiency gains. We asked: do genotype groups with shoot phenotypes easily selectable in pre-breeding programs express predictable root depth and length at time of grain harvest in the field? Do flowering time and shoot biomass predict deep roots measured directly in the field with coring, such that deeper roots are associated with more shoot growth and yield? Does genotype, including triticale versus wheat types, vary in rooting traits? Thirty-four wheats (Triticum aestivum L.) and two triticales (× Triticosecale) were drawn from ten ‘genotype groups’; selections from breeding programs and commercial cultivars that were distinguished on the basis of height, tillering, winter habit, and early vigour. These were grown at two independent sites and soil conditions in year 1 (experiment 1 and 2), with a subset of six wheats and two triticales repeated in year 2 at year 1 site (experiment 3). Above-ground biomass, flowering date, grain yield and root length and depth were measured with a high level of replication (four replicate plots and four soil cores per plot). Root length density was predicted from root counts obtained using the core-break method on 42 mm diameter, two m deep cores. A Bayesian multivariate mixed-effects model was used with fixed effects of the environment and random effects of genotype groups, genotypes and their interactions with the environment. Variation in rooting depth and length caused by environments was much larger than that caused by genotypes. Positive relationships between biomass, yield and root depth and length were observed across experiments and genotype groups (r = 0.62 for biomass and root depth, r = 0.61 for yield and root depth; r = 0.66 for biomass and root length, r = 0.53 for yield and root length), but the largest effects were driven by differences in soil and rainfall conditions between experiments. However, the smaller genetic effects on rooting depth and yield were positively correlated (r = 0.69). We did not find that easily selectable shoot traits like early vigour, tillering, and height reliably predicted in-field deeper rooting. Notably, the two triticales were 74 % more likely to have a deeper rooting and 82 % more likely to have less total root length, than spring wheats. We conclude that deeper and longer roots at maturity are (1) challenging to pre-select using shoot phenotype prior to field evaluation; (2) depend almost entirely on environment for expression in the field with small effects of genotype; and (3) can grow at no apparent 'cost' to shoot growth or yield and as such can remain a target for breeding.
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