La leishmaniasis y la enfermedad de Chagas son causadas por protozoarios que comparten características filogenéticas y eco-epidemiológicas comunes, lo cual provoca dificultad en su identificación y ...diagnóstico. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la información disponible sobre las técnicas de identificación de T. cruzi, de Leishmania spp. y la coinfección con ambos parásitos, así como su impacto en la obtención de datos eco-epidemiológicos. Se realizó una búsqueda sistemática de técnicas de identificación para T. cruzi, Leishmania spp. o ambos. Los estudios se clasificaron por agente etiológico, tipo de publicación, técnica utilizada y hospedero. Se realizó una prueba de X2 para evaluar la relación entre el parásito y la técnica utilizada. También se analizó la relación entre los trabajos publicados por año, la técnica diagnóstica y el parásito. De 138 trabajos analizados, se determinó que no existe un “estándar de oro” para el diagnóstico de estas parasitosis y la coinfección. Por tanto, se requiere la estandarización de protocolos que incrementen la sensibilidad y especificidad, así como el uso de al menos 2 técnicas en la identificación. Es imprescindible estudiar la prevalencia e incidencia de estas parasitosis en la fauna silvestre y la población humana bajo el contexto de cambio climático.
Abstract Bacteria that colonize the vaginal microbiota of women play an important role in health and homeostasis. Disruption of the proportion of bacteria predisposes to dysbiosis like bacterial ...vaginosis or severe gynecological conditions such as preterm birth, pelvic inflammatory disease and also sexually transmitted diseases. Knowledge about normal and abnormal vaginal microbiota has become a little clearer in recent years. Culture techniques have made it possible to isolate and describe many bacterial species, whereas molecular methods have highlighted the limits of culture by showing that the vagina was a complex ecosystem containing a wide range of non-cultured or difficult-to-identify bacteria. Based on an exhaustive review of the scientific literature, we built the repertoire of all the bacteria found using culture-based and/or independent methods on the human vagina. So, whether they are valid or not, we inventoried 581 bacteria identified in the human vagina distributed into 10 taxa, mainly in the phyla of Actinobacteria , Bacteroidetes , Firmicutes , and Proteobacteria with 206 distinct genera classified in 96 different families. This repertoire is essential for microbiologists and clinicians and represents the starting point for a Vaginal Microbiome Project such a project aimed to map the human vaginal microbiota, to better understand the dysbioses or infections caused by its imbalance in order to offer more appropriate treatments.
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•Two major invasive Nymphaea mexicana hybrid groups are present in South Africa.•These hybrid groups likely share genetic material with Nymphaea odorata and Nymphaea alba.•Surveys for ...potential biocontrol agents can be expanded to include putative parents.•Understanding the genetic structure of invasives improves efforts to develop biocontrol.
Hybridisation of alien invasive plants complicates efforts to develop biological control, because variations in the genetic makeup of the target plant can impact the survival of host specific agents that have evolved adaptations specific to the original host. To maximise the likelihood of success in a biological control program, potential agents should therefore be collected from populations in the region of origin that are genetically similar to plants in the invaded range. Molecular markers are useful tools to understand genetic contributions in hybrid populations, especially where morphological differentiation is difficult. Nymphaea mexicana Zuccarini (Nymphaeaceae) is an invasive alien plant in South Africa that is being targeted for biological control, but hybrids with intermediate morphological traits are also present at several sites. In this study, ISSR (inter simple sequence repeats) and ITS (internal transcribed spacer) markers were used to determine which Nymphaea species are likely to be putative parents of these hybrids, and morphological characters were also investigated to determine if genetic and morphological traits matched. Two major hybrid groups were identified, with one group clustering with Nymphaea odorata Aiton and the other clustering with Nymphaea alba L. A third, smaller group clustered with Nymphaea tetragona Georgi, whereas the remaining samples clustered with pure N. mexicana from the native range. Morphological features agreed with deductions drawn from molecular data. These results allow us to focus efforts to find compatible biological control agents and better understand the complicated genetic structure of N. mexicana and Nymphaea hybrids in South Africa.
Microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) are an attracting technology for the disposal of wastewater treatment and simultaneous energy production. In MESs, at the anode microorganisms through the ...catalytic activity generates electrons that can be converted into electricity or other valuable chemical compounds. Microorganisms those having ability to donate and accept electrons to and from anode and cathode electrodes, respectively are recognized as ‘exoelectrogens’. In the MESs, it renders an important function for its performance. In the present mini-review, we have discussed the role of microbiome including pure culture, enriched culture and mixed culture in different BESs application. The effects of operational and biological factors on microbiome development have been discussed. Further discussion about the molecular techniques for the evaluation of microbial community analysis is addressed. In addition different electrochemical techniques for extracellular electron transfer (EET) mechanism of electroactive biofilms have been discussed. This review highlights the importance of microbiome in the development of MESs, effective operational factors for exo-electrogens activities as well their key challenges and future technological aspects are also briefly discussed.
•Key microbiomes involved in MECs were summarized and discussed.•The effects of operational factors on microbiome development have been discussed.•Monitoring of microbial communities and their importance were reviewed.•Bottlenecks associated with scale up of MEC technology are discussed.
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) in women with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and the usefulness and ...cost-effectiveness of a rapid molecular test for the diagnosis and clinical management of PID.
This observational study included 75 patients with mild-to-moderate PID (n=33), severe PID (n=29) and non-specific lower abdominal pain (NSAP) (n=13). CT/NG infections were analyzed using a standard and a rapid test. A cost analysis was carried out.
Samples of 19 patients (25.3%) were CT/NG positive. Concordance between rapid and standard tests was 100%. No significant differences were observed in the incidence of CT/NG in mild-to-moderate compared to severe PID. Costs differed according only to disease severity.
Rapid molecular tests could help with the diagnosis of PID in sexually active women in clinical settings in which a standard technique is not available.
El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la prevalencia de Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) y Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) en mujeres con enfermedad inflamatoria pélvica (EIP) y la utilidad y costo-efectividad de una prueba molecular rápida para el diagnóstico y manejo clínico de la EIP.
Este estudio observacional incluyó a 75 pacientes con EIP leve a moderada (n=33), EIP grave (n=29) y dolor abdominal bajo inespecífico (n=13). Las infecciones por CT/NG se detectaron mediante una prueba estándar y una prueba rápida. Se realizó un análisis de costes.
Las muestras de 19 pacientes (25,3%) fueron positivas para CT/NG. La concordancia entre las pruebas rápida y estándar fue del 100%. No se observaron diferencias significativas en la incidencia de CT/NG en la EIP leve a moderada en comparación con la grave. Los costes difirieron solo según la gravedad de la enfermedad.
Las pruebas moleculares rápidas podrían ayudar en el diagnóstico de la EIP en mujeres sexualmente activas en entornos clínicos en los que no se dispone de una técnica estándar.
Over the decades, rapid nucleic acid detection has been difficult for scientists, especially in microbiology, biotechnology and immunology. Most technologies are finite in sensitivity, specificity or ...both. Early diagnosis of disease allows swift response, disease monitoring and control of the rapid spread of the disease. However, limited access to test kits, specialized laboratory equipment, and the need for highly skilled personnel has led to a detection downshift. CRISPR-based diagnostic techniques, based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), have recently altered molecular diagnosis. This modern technology is combined or paired with other methods like SHERLOCK, DETECTR, HUDSON, CDetection and so on to detect viruses, bacteria infection and other pathogenic agents, due to its precision and versatility, it can also detect diseases directly from patient samples. Rapid, sensitive, accurate and advanced molecular techniques are much needed since they soothe researchers in diagnosis and detection, and can also be employed in therapeutic treatments. In this review, detailed CRISPR Cas variants were discussed, emphasizing the use of CRISPR system as a tool in diagnostics and nucleic acids detection and the benefits of this robust tool over other amplification methods.
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•Various Crispr Cas Variants are been discussed.•Crispr Cas detection tools as a method for detecting Nucleic acids.•Advantages of Crispr Cas techniques over conventional methods of Nucleic acids detection.
Nematodes are the most diverse but most minor studied microorganisms found in soil, water, animals, or plants. Either beneficial or pathogenic, they significantly affect human and animal health, ...plant production and ultimately affect the environmental equilibrium. Knowledge of their taxonomy and biology are the main issues to answer the different challenges associated with these microorganisms. The classical morphology-based nematode taxonomy and biodiversity studies have proved insufficient to identify closely related taxa and have challenged most biologists. Several molecular approaches have been used to supplement morphological methods and solve these problems with markable success. The molecular techniques range from enzyme analysis, protein-based information to DNA sequence analysis. For several decades, efforts have been made to integrate molecular approaches with digital 3D image-capturing technology to improve the identification accuracy of such a taxonomically challenging group and communicate morphological data. This review presents various molecular techniques and provides examples of recent advances in these methods to identify free-living and plant-parasitic nematodes.
•Nematodes have astonishing diversity and most of them are unidentified.•Classical taxonomy has played a great role in identification of nematodes but presently facing shortage of taxonomists.•Molecular methods such as biochemical and PCR based methods have covered nematode diversity to some extent.•Advanced sequencing is a complete solution and, helps to create open databases for nematode identifications.
Biological wastewater treatment processes are based on the exploitation of the concerted activity of microorganisms. Knowledge on the microbial community structure and the links to the changing ...environmental conditions is therefore crucial for the development and optimization of biological systems by engineers. The advent of molecular techniques occurred in the last decades quickly showed the inadequacy of culture-dependent methodologies to unveil the great level of diversity present in sludge samples. Initially, culture-independent technologies and more recently the application of -omics in wastewater microbiology, have drawn a new view of microbial diversity and function of wastewater treatment systems. This article reviews the current knowledge on the topic placing emphasis on crucial microbial processes carried out in biological wastewater treatment systems driven by specific groups of microbes, such as nitrogen and phosphorus removal bacteria, filamentous and electrogenic microorganisms, as well as Archaea. Despite the recent -omics has offered substantial insights into the diversity and ecophysiology of these bacteria never envisioned before by providing millions of sequence reads at an unprecedented scale, studies based on high-throughput sequencing are still scarce. In order to obtain significant gains in the analysis of structure-function relationships, a greater sequencing investment is needed, particularly to uncover gene expression patterns of functionally relevant genes.
Actinomycetoma laboratory-based diagnosis: a mini-review Siddig, Emmanuel Edwar; van de Sande, Wendy W J; Fahal, Ahmed Hassan
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,
04/2021, Volume:
115, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Mycetoma is a chronic granulomatous inflammatory disease that is caused either by fungi (eumycetoma) or bacteria (actinomycetoma). The latter is caused by various actinomycetes of the genera ...Nocardia, Streptomyces and Actinomadura. They have different geographical distributions within mycetoma-endemic regions. In parts of Latin America, Nocardia species are more often encountered while in Africa, Streptomyces species dominate. For instituting a proper patient treatment plan, accurate identification of the causative organism is vital. For actinomycetoma, different laboratory-based techniques have been developed during recent decades. These include direct microscopy, cytology, histopathology and serology. More recently, different molecular techniques and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation-time of flight mass spectrometry have been included as diagnostic methods for actinomycetoma. In this review, an update on the laboratory techniques currently in use for the identification of actinomycetoma-causative agents to the species level is presented.
•Toxins are typically generated by anthropogenic activities into the environment•The reduction of pollutants using various microbial techniques is addressed•Strategy, and recommendation are ...summarized along with future prospects
Continuous rising anthropogenic sources such as industrialization caused environmental contamination and health hazards. Toxic pollutants deposition in water and soil streams is now recognized as a severe environmental issue that has a variety of negative consequences on the health of plants and animals. Approximately 300–400 million tons of industrial wastewater containing toxic materials such asheavy metals, hydrocarbons, and radioactive elements are released into the environment each year without proper treatment. Such dangerous chemicals have mutagenic and cancerous impacts on human health, wildlife, and vegetation when they are released into the environment. Several innovative technical approaches are currently being explored to speed up the clean-up of polluted sites. Through the all-encompassing activity of microbes, remediation is heavily involved in the deterioration, removal, immobilization, or detoxification of various chemical wastes and environment. Microbes may thrive in a wide range of conditions and produce metabolites that degrade and convert pollutants, allowing contaminated facilities to be naturally rejuvenated. Microorganisms have a range of metals sequestration capabilities that help them to have higher metals biosorption abilities.The focus of this article will be on a microbiological technique that is reportedly employed in pollution monitoring to reduce pollutant concentrations. We investigate the prerequisites for analysing scientific data in order to construct synthetic biological models of microbial bioremediation in this review, which includes studying the prerequisites for developing synthetic biological models of microbial bioremediation. In addition, the importance of microbial technology in bioremediation for the future has been described.
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