Revisiting an Aspergillus flavus Strain Isolated from an Egyptian Sugarcane Field in 1930

The aflatoxin type B and G producer Aspergillus novoparasiticus was described in 2012 and was firstly reported from sputum, hospital air (Brazil), and soil (Colombia). Later, several survey studies reported the occurrence of this species in different foods and other agricultural commodities from several countries worldwide. This short communication reports on an old fungal strain (CBS 108.30), isolated from Pseudococcus sacchari (grey sugarcane mealybug) from an Egyptian sugarcane field in (or before) 1930. This strain was initially identified as Aspergillus flavus; however, using the latest taxonomy schemes, the strain is, in fact, A. novoparasiticus. These data and previous reports indicate that A. novoparasiticus is strongly associated with sugarcane, and pre-harvest biocontrol approaches with non-toxigenic A. novoparasiticus strains are likely to be more successful than those using non-toxigenic A. flavus strains. Further studies on the association between A. novoparasiticus and Pseudococcus sacchari might shed light on the distribution (and aflatoxin contamination) of this species in sugarcane. Additionally, the interaction between A. novoparasiticus, Pseudococcus sacchari, and sugarcane crop under different scenarios of climate change will be critical in order to get more insight into the host–pathogen interaction and host resistance and propose appropriate prevention strategies to decrease mycotoxin contamination and crop loss due to A. novoparasiticus attack.

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Sentence-Based Experience Logging in New Hearing Aid Users

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2020_aja-19-00077 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (3S) ◽

pp. 631-637

Author(s):

Katja Lund ◽

Rodrigo Ordoñez ◽

Jens Bo Nielsen ◽

Dorte Hammershøi

Keyword(s):

Hearing Aid ◽

Patient Experiences ◽

Online Tool ◽

Rehabilitation Process ◽

Hearing Rehabilitation ◽

Clinical Observations ◽

Hearing Aid Use ◽

Wide Range ◽

Insight Into ◽

Shed Light

Purpose The aim of this study was to develop a tool to gain insight into the daily experiences of new hearing aid users and to shed light on aspects of aided performance that may not be unveiled through standard questionnaires. Method The tool is developed based on clinical observations, patient experiences, expert involvement, and existing validated hearing rehabilitation questionnaires. Results An online tool for collecting data related to hearing aid use was developed. The tool is based on 453 prefabricated sentences representing experiences within 13 categories related to hearing aid use. Conclusions The tool has the potential to reflect a wide range of individual experiences with hearing aid use, including auditory and nonauditory aspects. These experiences may hold important knowledge for both the patient and the professional in the hearing rehabilitation process.

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Aleksey Peshkov as an editor of Samarskaya Gazeta

Voprosy literatury ◽

10.31425/0042-8795-2020-4-128-138 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 128-138

Author(s):

A. S. Bik-Bulatov

Keyword(s):

Local History ◽

Organizational Skills ◽

First Time ◽

New Evidence ◽

Insight Into ◽

Shed Light

The article uses little known letters of M. Gorky, many of which were published for the first time in 1997, as well as findings of Samara-based experts in local history to shed light on the writer’s work as editor-in-chief of the Samarskaya Gazeta newspaper in 1895. The researcher introduces hitherto unstudied reminiscences of the journalist D. Linyov (Dalin) about this period, which reference a letter by Gorky, now lost. The paper details a newly discovered episode of Gorky’s professional biography as a journalist: it concerns his campaign against a Samara ‘she-wolf,’ the madam of a local brothel A. Neucheva. Linyov’s reminiscences turn out to be an important and interesting source, offering an insight into the daily grind of the young editor Gorky, providing new evidence of his excellent organizational skills, and describing his moral and social stance. The author presents his work in the context of a recently initiated broader discussion about the need to map out all Russian periodicals for the period until 1917, as well as all research devoted to individual publications.

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Trust in science increases conservative support for social distancing

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations ◽

10.1177/1368430220985918 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 680-697

Author(s):

Jonah Koetke ◽

Karina Schumann ◽

Tenelle Porter

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Government Official ◽

Prevention Strategies ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Scientific Consensus ◽

Ideological Differences ◽

Moderating Role ◽

Insight Into

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates adherence to scientifically supported prevention strategies, such as social distancing. Although most Americans support social distancing, a subset of conservatives reject the scientific consensus on this matter. We explored why some conservatives reject social distancing, focusing on how trust in science contributes to ideological differences in social distancing intentions. In two studies, we replicated recent research demonstrating that conservatives report lower support for social distancing compared to liberals. However, in Study 1 we found support for a moderating role of trust in science, such that conservatives reported stronger intentions to socially distance when they had high trust in science. In Study 2, we enhanced trust in messaging about social distancing – and in turn, social distancing intentions among conservatives – by having the messages come from a Republican (vs. unidentified) government official. These studies provide insight into how we can increase adherence to public health recommendations regarding COVID-19.

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A Novel Niosome-Encapsulated Essential Oil Formulation to Prevent Aspergillus flavus Growth and Aflatoxin Contamination of Maize Grains During Storage

Toxins ◽

10.3390/toxins11110646 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 646 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

García-Díaz ◽

Patiño ◽

Vázquez ◽

Gil-Serna

Keyword(s):

Aspergillus Flavus ◽

Fungal Growth ◽

Storage Conditions ◽

Aflatoxin Contamination ◽

Small Scale ◽

Low Concentrations ◽

Oil Formulation ◽

Scale Test ◽

Encapsulation Method

Aflatoxin (AF) contamination of maize is a major concern for food safety. The use of chemical fungicides is controversial, and it is necessary to develop new effective methods to control Aspergillus flavus growth and, therefore, to avoid the presence of AFs in grains. In this work, we tested in vitro the effect of six essential oils (EOs) extracted from aromatic plants. We selected those from Satureja montana and Origanum virens because they show high levels of antifungal and antitoxigenic activity at low concentrations against A. flavus. EOs are highly volatile compounds and we have developed a new niosome-based encapsulation method to extend their shelf life and activity. These new formulations have been successfully applied to reduce fungal growth and AF accumulation in maize grains in a small-scale test, as well as placing the maize into polypropylene woven bags to simulate common storage conditions. In this latter case, the antifungal properties lasted up to 75 days after the first application.

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Mycobacterium tuberculosis adhesins: potential biomarkers as anti-tuberculosis therapeutic and diagnostic targets

Microbiology ◽

10.1099/mic.0.082206-0 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 160 (9) ◽

pp. 1821-1831 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Viveshree S. Govender ◽

Saiyur Ramsugit ◽

Manormoney Pillay

Keyword(s):

Immune Response ◽

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Host Cells ◽

Tuberculosis Control ◽

Surface Molecules ◽

Host Pathogen Interaction ◽

Bacterial Aggregation ◽

Insight Into

Adhesion to host cells is a precursor to host colonization and evasion of the host immune response. Conversely, it triggers the induction of the immune response, a process vital to the host’s defence against infection. Adhesins are microbial cell surface molecules or structures that mediate the attachment of the microbe to host cells and thus the host–pathogen interaction. They also play a crucial role in bacterial aggregation and biofilm formation. In this review, we discuss the role of adhesins in the pathogenesis of the aetiological agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We also provide insight into the structure and characteristics of some of the characterized and putative M. tuberculosis adhesins. Finally, we examine the potential of adhesins as targets for the development of tuberculosis control strategies.

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Posthumous baggage. Harper Lee’s letters

Voprosy literatury ◽

10.31425/0042-8795-2021-4-194-214 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 194-214

Author(s):

D. V. Zakharov

Keyword(s):

Personal Life ◽

Private Correspondence ◽

To Kill A Mockingbird ◽

Detailed List ◽

Harper Lee ◽

Insight Into ◽

Shed Light

The article is devoted to the epistolary legacy of Nelle Harper Lee, the author of the American cult classic To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). The researcher examines a collection of Nelle’s letters written from 1956 to 2009, provides a detailed list of sources and makes suggestions about the potential new discoveries that could shed light on the life of ‘America’s most reclusive author.’ This short study of ‘posthumous baggage,’ as Lee referred to her private correspondence, offers an insight into the interests of the author, who insisted on keeping her personal life to herself. The letters included in the study concern the writer’s relationship to her father Amasa Coleman Lee, on whom she based the character of Atticus Finch, her attitude to her own biography published by Charles Shields, and personal anxieties of her final years. The author also details Lee’s opinions of literature, from the 19th-c. classics to contemporary authors, and shows how much she valued communication with her numerous fans.

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Otitis Media in Infancy: Tympanometric Findings

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.63.3.435 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 435-442

Author(s):

Jessie R. Groothuis ◽

Sarah H. W. Sell ◽

Peter F. Wright ◽

Judith M. Thompson ◽

William A. Altemeier

Keyword(s):

Otitis Media ◽

Acute Otitis Media ◽

Chronic Otitis Media ◽

Normal Pressure ◽

Pressure Curve ◽

Type B ◽

History Of ◽

Life Type ◽

Insight Into

Ninety-one normal infants were followed longitudinally for varying periods from November 1975 to April 1977 to assess the correlation between tympanometry and pneumatic otoscopy and to study the pathogenesis of acute and chronic otitis media early in life. Type A (normal) tympanograms correlated with normal otoscopic findings in 92% of instances. Type B tympanograms, indicating reduced drum compliance with a relatively flat pressure curve, were associated with abnormal otoscopic findings in 93% of cases. The A8 (reduced compliance, normal pressure) and C (normal compliance, negative pressure) tympanograms were less consistent predictors of otoscopic findings. The correlation of tympanometric and otoscopic findings were similar in infants above and below 7 months of age. Tympanometry provided some insight into the natural history of otitis in 71 infants followed 12 to 17 months. Infants who failed to develop otitis had type B curves in only one of 240 determinations (0.4%). This pattern did not appear in those who developed acute otitis media (AOM) until the month preceding the first attack; nine of 29 tests (31%) made under these circumstances were type B. When a type B curve appeared in an asymptomatic study infant who had not previously had otitis, AOM developed within a month in nine of ten instances. At the time of diagnosis of first AOM, 87% of tympanograms were type B with the remainder type A8 or C. Sixty-three percent of tympanograms obtained from 25 infants during the six months following first AOM were type B, indicating that abnormal middle ear function was often prolonged. Fifteen of these 25 developed recurrent otitis during follow-up.

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Black-white mixed race young people in Ireland and their lived experiences of racialised exclusion

Irish Journal of Sociology ◽

10.1177/07916035211068435 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 079160352110684

Author(s):

Patti O’Malley

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Mixed Race ◽

Regular Feature ◽

Black African ◽

Academic Scholarship ◽

Irish Context ◽

Irish Identity ◽

Depth Interviews ◽

Insight Into ◽

Shed Light

The multiracial family and the existence of mixed race children have come to be a regular feature of Irish familial life. Yet, nation-building discourses have promulgated notions of ethnic and religious homogeneity with Irish identity being racialised exclusively as white. Moreover, to date, there has been a dearth of academic scholarship related to racial mixedness in the Irish context. Through in-depth interviews, this paper sets out, therefore, to provide empirical insight into the lives of fifteen black (African) – white (Irish) mixed race young people (aged 4 to 18) with a particular focus on their experiences of racialised exclusion. Indeed, findings suggest that, as in other majority white national contexts, the black-white mixed race young people are racialised as black in the Irish public domain and as such, are positioned as ‘racialised outsiders’. In fact, their narrative accounts shed light on everyday encounters saturated by ‘us-them’ racial constructs based on phenotype. Thus, these young people, who are not fully recognised as mixed race Irish citizens, are effectively deprived of a space in which to articulate their belonging within the existing statist (i.e. inside/outside) framework.

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Modelling the colonisation of maize by toxigenic and non-toxigenic Aspergillus flavus strains: implications for biological control

World Mycotoxin Journal ◽

10.3920/wmj2008.x036 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 333-340 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

H. Abbas ◽

R. Zablotowicz ◽

H. Bruns

Keyword(s):

Biological Control ◽

Aspergillus Flavus ◽

Growth Parameters ◽

Biological Control Agent ◽

Cyclopiazonic Acid ◽

Aflatoxin Contamination ◽

Tween 20 ◽

Lag Phase ◽

Gompertz Equation ◽

Aflatoxin Accumulation

To successfully exploit biological control it is desirable to understand how the introduced agent colonises the host and interferes with establishment of the pest. This study assessed field colonisation of maize by Aspergillus flavus strains as biological control agents to reduce aflatoxin contamination. Maize (corn, Zea mays L.) ears were inoculated with A. flavus using a pin-bar technique in 2004 and 2005. Non-aflatoxigenic strains K49 (NRRL 30797) & CT3 (NRRL 30798) and toxigenic F3W4 (NRRL 30798) were compared against a carrier control (0.2% aqueous Tween 20). Ten ears were sampled over 12 to 20 days, visually assessed, and curves fit to a three compartment Gompertz equation or other best appropriate regressions. Aflatoxin was determined by HPLC and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) by LC/MS. The Gompertz model describes growth parameters, e.g. growth constant, lag phase and maximum colonisation characterised patterns of maize colonisation for most inoculated treatments. Aflatoxin accumulation in maize inoculated with F3W4 was about 35,000 ng/g in 2004 and 2005, with kinetics of aflatoxin accumulation in 2005 well described by the Gompertz equation. Less than 200 ng/g was observed in maize inoculated with strains CT3 & K49 and accumulation was described by a linear or logistic model. Maize inoculated with strains CT3 and F3W4 accumulated a maximum of 220 and 169 µg/kg CPA, respectively, compared to 22 and 0.2 µg/kg in the control and K49 inoculated, respectively. This technique can be used to elucidate colonisation potential of non-toxigenic A. flavus in maize in relation to biological control of aflatoxin. The greatest reduction of aflatoxin and CPA in maize inoculated with strain K49 and Gompertz parameters on colonisation indicates its superiority to CT3 as a biological control agent. The dynamics of maize colonisation by A. flavus strains and subsequent mycotoxin accumulation generated by using the pin-bar technique has implications for characterising the competence of biocontrol strains for reducing aflatoxin contamination.

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Evaluation of resistance to aflatoxin contamination in kernels of maize genotypes using a GFP-expressing Aspergillus flavus strain

World Mycotoxin Journal ◽

10.3920/wmj2012.1497 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 151-158 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

K. Rajasekaran ◽

C.M. Sickler ◽

R.L. Brown ◽

J.W. Cary ◽

D. Bhatnagar

Keyword(s):

Fungal Infection ◽

Aspergillus Flavus ◽

Fluorescent Protein ◽

Aflatoxin Contamination ◽

Clear Correlation ◽

Aleurone Layer ◽

Screening Assay ◽

Maize Germplasm ◽

Antifungal Proteins ◽

Green Fluorescent

Resistance or susceptibility of maize inbreds to infection by Aspergillus flavus was evaluated by the kernel screening assay. A green fluorescent protein-expressing strain of A. flavus was used to measure fungal spread and aflatoxin levels in real-time following fungal infection of kernels. Among the four inbreds tested, MI82 showed the most resistance and Ga209 the least. TZAR101 was also resistant to fungal infection, whereas Va35 was susceptible to fungal infection. However, Va35 produced lower aflatoxin levels compared to the susceptible line Ga209. Fluorescence microscopy indicated that the site of entry of the fungus into the kernel was consistently through the pedicel. Entry through the pericarp was never observed in undamaged kernels. In view of these results, incorporation or overexpression of antifungal proteins should be targeted to the pedicel and basal endosperm region in developing kernels. Once the fungus has entered through the pedicel, it spreads quickly through the open spaces between the pericarp and the aleurone layer, ultimately colonising the endosperm and scutellum and, finally, the embryo. A clear correlation was established between fungal fluorescence and aflatoxin levels. This method provides a quick, reliable means of evaluating resistance to A. flavus in undamaged kernels and provides breeders with a rapid method to evaluate maize germplasm.

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