scholarly journals Proteomic and Genomic Characterization of Highly Infectious Clostridium difficile 630 Spores

2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (17) ◽  
pp. 5377-5386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor D. Lawley ◽  
Nicholas J. Croucher ◽  
Lu Yu ◽  
Simon Clare ◽  
Mohammed Sebaihia ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Clostridium difficile, a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, produces highly resistant spores that contaminate hospital environments and facilitate efficient disease transmission. We purified C. difficile spores using a novel method and show that they exhibit significant resistance to harsh physical or chemical treatments and are also highly infectious, with <7 environmental spores per cm2 reproducibly establishing a persistent infection in exposed mice. Mass spectrometric analysis identified ∼336 spore-associated polypeptides, with a significant proportion linked to translation, sporulation/germination, and protein stabilization/degradation. In addition, proteins from several distinct metabolic pathways associated with energy production were identified. Comparison of the C. difficile spore proteome to those of other clostridial species defined 88 proteins as the clostridial spore “core” and 29 proteins as C. difficile spore specific, including proteins that could contribute to spore-host interactions. Thus, our results provide the first molecular definition of C. difficile spores, opening up new opportunities for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M. Pascual ◽  
Ruth Prieto

Classifying CPs within the overly vague, uninformative category “suprasellar” prevents gaining any true insight regarding the risks associated with the surgical procedure employed. Routine MRI obtained with conventional T1- and T2-weighted sequences along the midsagittal and coronal trans-infundibular planes allow an accurate and reliable preoperative definition of CP topography. CPs developing primarily within the infundibulum and/or tuberal region of the hypothalamus, as well as those wholly located within the 3V, should be distinguished preoperatively from those lesions originally expanding beneath the 3V floor (3VF), the true suprasellar tumors. Among adult patients, about 40% of CPs correspond to infundibulo-tuberal tumors expanding primarily within the 3VF, above an intact pituitary gland and stalk. This subgroup of CPs shows strong adherences to the surrounding hypothalamus, as they are embedded within a wide band of reactive gliotic tissue, usually infiltrated by microscopic finger-like solid cords of tumor tissue. In elderly patients, a significant proportion of CPs correspond to papillary tumors developing above an intact 3VF, usually showing small pedicle-like or sessile-like attachments to the infundibulum. With the current diagnostic MRI workup routinely employed for CPs, it is possible, for the majority of lesions, to preoperatively differentiate these topographical variants and predict the type of CP-hypothalamus relationship that will be found during surgery.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruaridh A. Clark ◽  
Malcolm Macdonald

AbstractContact networks provide insights on disease spread due to the duration of close proximity interactions. For systems governed by consensus dynamics, network structure is key to optimising the spread of information. For disease spread over contact networks, the structure would be expected to be similarly influential. However, metrics that are essentially agnostic to the network’s structure, such as weighted degree (strength) centrality and its variants, perform near-optimally in selecting effective spreaders. These degree-based metrics outperform eigenvector centrality, despite disease spread over a network being a random walk process. This paper improves eigenvector-based spreader selection by introducing the non-linear relationship between contact time and the probability of disease transmission into the assessment of network dynamics. This approximation of disease spread dynamics is achieved by altering the Laplacian matrix, which in turn highlights why nodes with a high degree are such influential disease spreaders. From this approach, a trichotomy emerges on the definition of an effective spreader where, for susceptible-infected simulations, eigenvector-based selections can either optimise the initial rate of infection, the average rate of infection, or produce the fastest time to full infection of the network. Simulated and real-world human contact networks are examined, with insights also drawn on the effective adaptation of ant colony contact networks to reduce pathogen spread and protect the queen ant.


2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2020-106977
Author(s):  
Christoph Becker ◽  
Alessandra Manzelli ◽  
Alexander Marti ◽  
Hasret Cam ◽  
Katharina Beck ◽  
...  

Guidelines recommend a ‘do-not-resuscitate’ (DNR) code status for inpatients in which cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) attempts are considered futile because of low probability of survival with good neurological outcome. We retrospectively assessed the prevalence of DNR code status and its association with presumed CPR futility defined by the Good Outcome Following Attempted Resuscitation score and the Clinical Frailty Scale in patients hospitalised in the Divisions of Internal Medicine and Traumatology/Orthopedics at the University Hospital of Basel between September 2018 and June 2019. The definition of presumed CPR futility was met in 467 (16.2%) of 2889 patients. 866 (30.0%) patients had a DNR code status. In a regression model adjusted for age, gender, main diagnosis, nationality, language and religion, presumed CPR futility was associated with a higher likelihood of a DNR code status (37.3% vs 7.1%, adjusted OR 2.99, 95% CI 2.31 to 3.88, p<0.001). In the subgroup of patients with presumed futile CPR, 144 of 467 (30.8%) had a full code status, which was independently associated with younger age, male gender, non-Christian religion and non-Swiss citizenship. We found a significant proportion of hospitalised patients to have a full code status despite the fact that CPR had to be considered futile according to an established definition. Whether these decisions were based on patient preferences or whether there was a lack of patient involvement in decision-making needs further investigation.


1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lalit M. Srivastava

The origin of sieve elements and parenchyma cells in the secondary phloem of Austrobaileya was studied by use of serial cross sections stained with tannic acid – ferric chloride and lacmoid. In three important respects, Austrobaileya phloem recalls gymnospermous features: it has sieve cells rather than sieve-tube members; a significant proportion of sieve elements and companion cells arise independently of each other; and sieve areas occur between sieve elements and companion cells ontogenetically unrelated to each other. The angiospermous feature includes origin of most sieve elements and parenchyma, including companion cells, after divisions in phloic initials. In these instances companion cells show a closer ontogenetic relationship to sieve elements than do other parenchyma cells. The combination of gymnospermous and angiospermous features makes phloem of Austrobaileya unique when compared to that of all those species that have been investigated in detail. It is further suggested that the term albuminous cells is inappropriate and should be replaced by companion cells but that the ontogenetic relationship implicit in the definition of companion cells is too restrictive and should be abandoned.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (138) ◽  
pp. 20170696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Morozova ◽  
Ted Cohen ◽  
Forrest W. Crawford

Epidemiologists commonly use the risk ratio to summarize the relationship between a binary covariate and outcome, even when outcomes may be dependent. Investigations of transmissible diseases in clusters—households, villages or small groups—often report risk ratios. Epidemiologists have warned that risk ratios may be misleading when outcomes are contagious, but the nature of this error is poorly understood. In this study, we assess the meaning of the risk ratio when outcomes are contagious. We provide a mathematical definition of infectious disease transmission within clusters, based on the canonical stochastic susceptible–infective model. From this characterization, we define the individual-level ratio of instantaneous infection risks as the inferential target, and evaluate the properties of the risk ratio as an approximation of this quantity. We exhibit analytically and by simulation the circumstances under which the risk ratio implies an effect whose direction is opposite that of the true effect of the covariate. In particular, the risk ratio can be greater than one even when the covariate reduces both individual-level susceptibility to infection, and transmissibility once infected. We explain these findings in the epidemiologic language of confounding and Simpson's paradox, underscoring the pitfalls of failing to account for transmission when outcomes are contagious.


Gene ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 181 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veit Braun ◽  
Thomas Hundsberger ◽  
Petra Leukel ◽  
Markus Sauerborn ◽  
Christoph von Eichel-Streiber

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1984
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Poldy

Many arthropod pests of humans and other animals select their preferred hosts by recognising volatile odour compounds contained in the hosts’ ‘volatilome’. Although there is prolific literature on chemical emissions from humans, published data on volatiles and vector attraction in other species are more sporadic. Despite several decades since the identification of a small number of critical volatiles underpinning specific host–vector relationships, synthetic chemicals or mixtures still largely fail to reproduce the attractiveness of natural hosts to their disease vectors. This review documents allelochemicals from non-human terrestrial animals and considers where challenges in collection and analysis have left shortfalls in animal volatilome research. A total of 1287 volatile organic compounds were identified from 141 species. Despite comparable diversity of entities in each compound class, no specific chemical is ubiquitous in all species reviewed, and over half are reported as unique to a single species. This review provides a rationale for future enquiries by highlighting research gaps, such as disregard for the contribution of breath volatiles to the whole animal volatilome and evaluating the role of allomones as vector deterrents. New opportunities to improve vector surveillance and disrupt disease transmission may be unveiled by understanding the host-associated stimuli that drive vector-host interactions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 01025
Author(s):  
Daniela Pfeiferová ◽  
Ivana Kuchařová

In the context of globalization, international institutional investors have taken over a significant proportion of global investment assets. Among this group also belong to collective investment undertakings whose primary motive is regulated by collecting funds from indeterminate group of natural persons and legal persons for the purpose of doing business on a global scale. As part of their reporting obligations, these entities are required to report on the risks associated with the investment and how to eliminate them. Investment firms must use risk management methods that allow these risks to be identified at any time. The main risks associated with investments in collective investment funds include global financial risks: interest rate risk, currency risk, equity risk, credit risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and political risk. This article deals with the definition of specific investment risks and the options for their elimination for collective investment entities. The main goal of the article is to recommend the elimination of these risks based on the identified risks associated with collective investment.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 3549-3549
Author(s):  
Andres Jerez ◽  
Yuka Sugimoto ◽  
Hideki Makishima ◽  
Amit Verma ◽  
Christine L O‘Keefe ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 3549 Acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome cases with monosomy 7 or del(7q) comprise a heterogeneous group. Complex karyotypes with multiple aberrations such as del(5q) are more frequent, and there is evidence that the overall survival is significantly lower in this group, compared with patients who have monosomy 7 or del(7q) as a sole abnormality. In this study, our purpose was to gain insights into these heterogeneous subsets among myeloid disorders with lesions of chromosome 7, taking advantage of the better definition of chromosomal aberrations which provides SNP-A karyotyping. We studied a large cohort of patients (N=1,153) with myeloid disorders using SNP-A karyotyping. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in 7q was identified in 9.7% (112/1153) of patients. It included monosomy 7 (n=38, 3.3%), del(7q) (n=55, 4.8%) and UPD7 (n=19, 1.6%). The LOH 7 cohort included men (70%) and women (30%) with a mean age of 57 years (S.D. 22.2 years). The presence of chromosome 7 material in 35% of our cases with apparent monosomy 7 by conventional MC serves as an illustration for SNP array-based mapping allowing for a more precise definition of the breakpoints. Clinical and chromosomal lesions association made possible to distinguish between three subsets: UPD 7: with 60% of the patients included in a myeloproliferative or myeloproliferative/myelodysplastic disease and 50% of presence of EZH2 mutations; del(7q): with 85% of patients included in the high risk group (RAEB and AML) and frequently associated with complex karyotypes (including 5q and 17p LOH); and monosomy 7: frequently (59%) as a sole abnormality and, in the case of MDS patients, associated with hypoplastic features. The existence of those three subsets is supported by the difference survival among the MDS cohort: median overall survival of 1250, 512 and 209 days for UPD 7, monosomy 7 and del(7q) patients, respectively (p=0.03). Three SNP-A defined commonly deleted regions were described in bands 7q22 (100634238–101658775), 7q34 (137841484–139319208), and between bands 7q35 and 7q35q36.1 (144338001–148545983) but among the candidate tumor suppressor genes (TSG), only EZH2 showed to be recurrently mutated in UPD7. The lack of a TSG mutation in monosomy and del(7q) cases led us to determine that the expression of majority of genes included in the CDRs was significantly reduced in MDS CD34+ cells from 9 cases with monosomy or partial deletion of chromosome 7 (Multiple testing by Benjamin Hochberg correction, FDR<10%). These genes included LUC7L2, ZNHIT1, TTC26, RABL5, TRIM24, EZH2, ZC3HAV1L, CNTNAP2, TRIM24, CUX1, FIS1, RABL5, ZC3HAV1 and TBXAS. The mean decrease in gene expression was 42–33 % supporting haploinsufficiency as a probable cause of disease. In summary, the present study shows how SNP-A karyotyping enables us to refine our knowledge about lesions of chromosome 7. The secondary nature of del(7q), accompanied almost invariably by “founder” 5q aberrations, the proliferative phenotype and presence of EZH2 mutations of UPD7q, and the description of monosomy 7 as isolated lesion and associated with hypoplastic disease phenotype, are the main correlations found herein, which prompt to investigate for different underlying pathogenic origin for each subset. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeta K. Kutty ◽  
Stephen R. Benoit ◽  
Christopher W. Woods ◽  
Arlene C. Sena ◽  
Susanna Naggie ◽  
...  

Objective.To determine the timing of community-onset Clostridium difficile–associated disease (CDAD) relative to the patient's last healthcare facility discharge, the association of postdischarge cases with healthcare facility–onset cases, and the influence of postdischarge cases on overall rates and interhospital comparison of rates of CDAD.Design.Retrospective cohort study for the period January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2005.Setting.Catchment areas of 6 acute care hospitals in North Carolina.Methods.We reviewed medical and laboratory records to determine the date of symptom onset, the dates of hospitalization, and stool C. difficile toxin assay results for patients with CDAD who had diarrhea and positive toxin–assay results. Cases were classified as healthcare facility–onset if they were diagnosed more than 48 hours after admission. Cases were defined as community-onset if they were diagnosed in the community or within 48 hours after admission, and were also classified on the basis of the time since the last discharge: if within 4 weeks, community-onset, healthcare facility–associated (CO-HCFA); if 4-12 weeks, indeterminate exposure; and if more than 12 weeks, community-associated. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the association between monthly rates of healthcare facility–onset, healthcare facility–associated (HO-HCFA) cases and CO-HCFA cases. We performed interhospital rate comparisons using HO-HCFA cases only and using both HO-HCFA and CO-HCFA cases.Results.Of 1046 CDAD cases, 442 (42%) were HO-HCFA cases and 604 (58%) were community-onset cases. Of the 604 community-onset cases, 94 (15%) were CO-HCFA, 40 (7%) were of indeterminate exposure, and 208 (34%) community-associated. A modest correlation was found between monthly rates of HO-HCFA cases and CO-HCFA cases across the 6 hospitals (r = 0.63, P<.001). Interhospital rankings changed for 6 of 11 months if CO-HCFA cases were included.Conclusions.A substantial proportion of community-onset cases of CDAD occur less than 4 weeks after discharge from a healthcare facility, and inclusion of CO-HCFA cases influences interhospital comparisons. Our findings support the use of a proposed definition of healthcare facility–associated CDAD that includes cases that occur within 4 weeks after discharge.


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