In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian ...administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. material 1.
Plastics and, in particular, microplastics (MPs) (< 5 mm) are emerging environmental pollutants responsible for interconnected risks to environmental, human, and animal health. The livestock sector ...is highly affected by these contaminants, with 50–60 % of the foreign bodies found in slaughtered domestic cattle being recognized as plastic-based materials. Additionally, microplastics were recently detected inside ruminant bodies and in their feces. MPs presence in ruminants could be explained by the intensive usage of plastic materials on farms, in particular to store feeds (i.e., to cover horizontal silos and to wrap hay bales). Although feed could be one of the main sources of plastics, especially of microplastics, a specific protocol to detect them in ruminant feeds is not actually present. Hence, the aim of this study was to optimize a specific protocol for the extraction, quantification, and identification of five microplastic polymers (high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, polyamide fibers/particles, polyethylene terephthalate and polystyrene) from feeds typically used in ruminant diets (corn silage, hay, high protein feedstuff and total mixed ration). Several combinations of Fenton reactions and KOH digestion were tested. The final extraction protocol involved a KOH digestion (60 °C for 24 h), followed by two/three cycles of Fenton reactions. The extraction recoveries were of 100 % for high-density, low-density polyethylene, polyamide particles, and polystyrene and higher than 85 % for polyethylene terephthalate and polyamide fibers. Finally, the optimized protocol was successfully applied in the extraction of microplastics from real feed samples. All the feeds contained microplastics, particularly polyethylene, thus confirming the exposure of ruminants to MPs.
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•Sources of MPs exposure in ruminants but lack of protocols for feeds monitoring.•MPs first non-destructive protocol for MPs extraction from 4 most used ruminant feeds.•Optimal combination of KOH/Fenton oxidation for the removal of interfering matter.•First visual characterization of MPs in ruminant feeds from NW Italian farm.•MPs contamination in feeds from 8.38.3 ± 3.51 to 39.3 ± 7.02 MPs/g.
The objective of this study has been to verify whether a combination of the standard Texture Profile Analysis and the back extrusion, which we have named "TPAH" since the analysis was performed after ...homogenization, can be applied to products that are difficult to handle. The TPAH was applied to 180 samples, divided equally into 18 batches of home-made pea-based patties, commercially pea-based patties, and meat patties. Seven TPAH parameters were measured on both raw and cooked samples: adhesiveness, chewiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, hardness, springiness and resilience. The specific density of the raw and cooked samples as well as a few physico-chemical parameters were also measured. All TPAH parameters were able to clearly discriminate between home-made, commercial, and meat patties (P-value <.05 to 0.001). A Canonical Discriminant Analysis highlighted the effectiveness of TPAH on both raw patties (R
2
= 0.960, Wilks' Lamba test Pr < 0.0001) and cooked ones (R
2
= 0.955, Wilks' Lamba test Pr < 0.0001). Even when the Canonical Discriminant Analysis was narrowed to cooked plant-based patties, the method proved to be efficient (R
2
= 0.809, Wilks' Lamba test Pr < 0.0001). The protein content was significantly related to all the TPAH parameters, except for adhesiveness. The TPAH method could be useful in research related to the substitution of meat patties with plant-based ones.
Cutaneous bacillary angiomatosis (cBA) is a vascular proliferative disorder due to Bartonella spp. that mostly affects people living with HIV (PLWH), transplanted patients and those taking ...immunosuppressive drugs. Since cBA is mostly related to these major immunocompromising conditions (i.e., T-cell count impairment), it is considered rare in relatively immunocompetent patients and could be underdiagnosed in them. Moreover, antimicrobial treatment in this population has not been previously investigated.
We searched the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, OpenAIRE and ScienceDirect by screening articles whose title included the keywords "bacillary" AND "angiomatosis" and included case reports about patients not suffering from major immunocompromising conditions to provide insights about antibiotic treatments and their duration.
Twenty-two cases of cBA not related to major immunocompromising conditions were retrieved. Antibiotic treatment duration was shorter in patients with single cBA lesion than in patients with multiple lesions, including in most cases macrolides and tetracyclines.
cBA is an emerging manifestation of Bartonella spp. infection in people not suffering from major immunocompromising conditions. Until evidence-based guidelines are available, molecular tests together with severity and extension of the disease can be useful to personalize the type of treatment and its duration.
Cutaneous bacillary angiomatosis (cBA) is a vascular proliferative disorder due to Bartonella henselae or Bartonella quintana that has been mostly described in people living with HIV. Since cBA is ...considered to be rare in hosts not affected by major immunosuppression, it could be underdiagnosed in this population. Moreover, antimicrobial treatment of cBA has been poorly validated, thus reporting experiences on this clinical entity is important. We reported a challenging and well-characterized case of an Italian 67-year-old gentleman without a history of major immunocompromizing conditions, although he was affected by conditions that can be associated with impaired immune function. The patient reported herein was diagnosed after a long time since the initiation of symptoms and was successfully treated with combined antibiotic therapy including macrolides and quinolones under the guidance of molecular test results. Physicians should consider cBA as a possible manifestation of Bartonella spp. Infection in patients not suffering from major immunocompromizing conditions. Until evidence-based guidelines are available, molecular tests together with severity and extension of the disease can be useful to personalize the type of treatment and its duration.
•Monoclonal antibody treatment does not hinder the short-term spike-specific cellular memory.•Vaccine breakthrough infection is associated with increased activated CD8+ cells.•Sotrovimab may hamper ...the T-cell memory in unvaccinated patients.
Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (moAbs) improves clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19 when administered during the initial days of infection. The action of moAbs may impair the generation or maintenance of effective immune memory, similar to that demonstrated in other viral diseases. We aimed to evaluate short-term memory T-cell responses in patients effectively treated with bamlanivimab/etesevimab, casirivimab/imdevimab, or sotrovimab (SOT).
Spike (S)-specific T-cell responses were analyzed in 23 patients with COVID-19 (vaccinated or unvaccinated) before and after a median of 50 (range: 28-93) days from moAb treatment, compared with 11 vaccinated healthy controls. T-cell responses were measured by interferon-γ-enzyme-linked immunospot and flow cytometric activation-induced marker assay.
No statistically significant difference in S-specific T-cell responses was observed between patients treated with moAb and vaccinated healthy controls. Bamlanivimab/etesevimab and casirivimab/imdevimab groups showed significant increases in cellular responses in paired baseline/postrecovery series, as well as vaccinated patients receiving SOT. In contrast, unvaccinated patients prescribed SOT presented no statistically significant increases in T-cell-responses, suggesting diverse impacts of different moAbs on the evolution of S-specific T-cell responses in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.
The moAbs did not hinder short-term memory S-specific T-cell responses in the overall group of patients; however, differences among moAbs must be further investigated both in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
