Scedosporiosis/lomentosporiosis observational study (SOS): Clinical significance of Scedosporium species identification

Scedosporiosis/lomentosporiosis is a devastating emerging fungal infection. Our objective was to describe the clinical pattern and to analyze whether taxonomic grouping of the species involved was supported by differences in terms of clinical presentations or outcomes. We retrospectively studied cases of invasive scedosporiosis in France from 2005 through 2017 based on isolates characterized by polyphasic approach. We recorded 90 cases, mainly related to Scedosporium apiospermum (n = 48), S. boydii/S. ellipsoideum (n = 20), and Lomentospora prolificans (n = 14). One-third of infections were disseminated, with unexpectedly high rates of cerebral (41%) and cardiovascular (31%) involvement. In light of recent Scedosporium taxonomic revisions, we aimed to study the clinical significance of Scedosporium species identification and report for the first time contrasting clinical presentations between infections caused S. apiospermum, which were associated with malignancies and cutaneous involvement in disseminated infections, and infections caused by S. boydii, which were associated with solid organ transplantation, cerebral infections, fungemia, and early death. The clinical presentation of L. prolificans also differed from that of other species, involving more neutropenic patients, breakthrough infections, fungemia, and disseminated infections. Neutropenia, dissemination, and lack of antifungal prescription were all associated with 3-month mortality. Our data support the distinction between S. apiospermum and S. boydii and between L. prolificans and Scedosporium sp. Our results also underline the importance of the workup to assess dissemination, including cardiovascular system and brain. Lay Summary Scedosporiosis/lomentosporiosis is a devastating emerging fungal infection. Our objective was to describe the clinical pattern and to analyze whether taxonomic grouping of the species involved was supported by differences in terms of clinical presentations or outcomes.

Mechanism of defining social and economic catalyst of the regional development imbalance based on the instrumental analysis

The disparity of indicators of the development is a factor hindering the stable socio-economic development of the regions and forms a number of threats to create a consolidated economic space within the country, so they need to be evaluated in order to develop the tools influencing them. The problem of determination of factors influencing the disparity of regional development is considered in the paper. Published scientific works do not fully meet the needs for research on disparities due to the failure to take into account the levels of influence of individual indicators on dynamic development of regions. The aim of the study is to identify the main indicators that are socio-economic catalysts of the uneven development of regions based on a comprehensive assessment of the achieved level of socio-economic development of regional systems in Ukraine. There are some methods used in the study: taxonomic, grouping, cluster analysis, quartimax, correlation analysis. The paper proposes the mechanism that allows us to identify the key factors that determine the degree of disparity in the socio-economic development of regions. To describe such factors, the definition of a socio-economic catalyst and a retarder of development have been introduced. The calculated weighting factors are used to determine the force of influence of social and economic catalysts on the degree of uneven development of regions. It is revealed that the difference in the development of regions is more determined by economic factors and indicators that represent the welfare. The results of the research can be used to formulate a strategy for regulation of disparities in regional socio-economic development. The implemented methodology for assessing and analyzing interregional socio-economic unevenness and regional disproportions allows us to identify the key factors that determine the imbalance in socio-economic development of regions. Investigation of the factors that form the disparities in regional development allows us to form the systematic tool for influencing them.

Linking personality and cognition: a meta-analysis

In the past decade, several conceptual papers have linked variation in animal personality to variation in cognition, and recent years have seen a flood of empirical studies testing this link. However, these results have not been synthesized in a quantitative way. Here, we systematically search the literature and conduct a phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis of empirical papers that have tested the relationship between animal personality (exploration, boldness, activity, aggression and sociability) and cognition (initial learning/reversal speed, number of correct choices/errors after standard training). We find evidence for a small but significant relationship between variation in personality and variation in learning across species in the absolute scale; however, the direction of this relationship is highly variable and when both positive and negative effect sizes are considered, the average effect size does not differ significantly from zero. Importantly, this variation among studies is not explained by differences in personality or learning measure, or taxonomic grouping. Further, these results do not support current hypotheses suggesting that that fast-explorers are fast-learners or that slow-explorers perform better on tests of reversal learning. Rather, we find evidence that bold animals are faster learners, but only when boldness is measured in response to a predator (or simulated predator) and not when boldness is measured by exposure to a novel object (or novel food). Further, although only a small sub-sample of papers reported results separately for males and females, sex explained a significant amount of variation in effect size. These results, therefore, suggest that, while personality and learning are indeed related across a range of species, the direction of this relationship is highly variable. Thus further empirical work is needed to determine whether there are important moderators of this relationship. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities’.

Hyaline moulds

Hyaline moulds are fungi that grow predominantly in a filamentous form with colourless hyphae. This is not a taxonomic grouping and encompasses many thousands of different fungal genera. However, there is a small subset of environmental saprobes or plant pathogenic moulds, currently comprising at least 75 species from 30 different genera, that are opportunistic human pathogens and have been implicated in invasive infections referred to as hyalohyphomycosis. In addition they may cause less invasive cutaneous, subcutaneous, mucous membrane, and corneal infections. This group of organisms includes Fusarium, Sarocladium, Paecilomyces, Purpureocillium, Scedosporium, Rasamsonia, and Scopulariopsis spp., and it is these that form the focus of this chapter. Aspects of taxonomy, cell biology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, incidence, risk factors, presentation, diagnosis, and treatment are discussed with particular reference to those features that are specific to hyaline moulds.

Less specific recovery strategy targets for threatened and non-charismatic species at risk in Canada

Recovery strategies for species at risk have been criticized for a lack of specificity (i.e. measurable and quantifiable criteria) as well as for taxonomic biases, both of which may ultimately affect species’ recovery. However, it is unknown whether the clarity and specificity of written statements within recovery strategies can also influence recovery efforts for certain species at risk. To assess this we examined the variation in semantic uncertainty in the target statements of recovery strategies for Canadian species at risk at the federal and provincial levels. We quantified the lexical density and readability of recovery target statements and examined them for differences according to taxonomic grouping, jurisdiction and degree of endangerment. Recovery statements for the category threatened species had greater semantic uncertainty than those for higher (endangered) and lower (special concern) categories, which is likely to be a function of the fact that threatened species are less abundant than special concern species but are subject to greater errors in population estimates than endangered species. We also found that recovery statements for non-charismatic species (e.g. plants and invertebrates) had greater semantic uncertainty than those for other taxa, which may be related to the resources available for studying and conserving them. Our results suggest a need for greater specificity in recovery targets for threatened and non-charismatic species, and that more focused data collection on these species’ populations is warranted.

Analyses of Extracellular Carbohydrates in Oomycetes Unveil the Existence of Three Different Cell Wall Types

ABSTRACT Some of the most devastating plant and animal pathogens belong to the oomycete class. The cell walls of these microorganisms represent an excellent target for disease control, but their carbohydrate composition is elusive. We have undertaken a detailed cell wall analysis in 10 species from 2 major oomycete orders, the Peronosporales and the Saprolegniales, thereby unveiling the existence of 3 clearly different cell wall types: type I is devoid of N -acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) but contains glucuronic acid and mannose; type II contains up to 5% GlcNAc and residues indicative of cross-links between cellulose and 1,3-β-glucans; type III is characterized by the highest GlcNAc content (>5%) and the occurrence of unusual carbohydrates that consist of 1,6-linked GlcNAc residues. These 3 cell wall types are also distinguishable by their cellulose content and the fine structure of their 1,3-β-glucans. We propose a cell wall paradigm for oomycetes that can serve as a basis for the establishment of cell wall architectural models and the further identification of cell wall subtypes. This paradigm is complementary to morphological and molecular criteria for taxonomic grouping and provides useful information for unraveling poorly understood cell wall carbohydrate biosynthetic pathways through the identification and characterization of the corresponding enzymes.

AFLP Analysis of Intraspecific Variation Between Monilinia laxa Isolates from Different Hosts

We analyzed with an amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) marker system the genetic diversity and relationships among 67 Monilinia laxa isolates obtained from different host plants. From a total of 1,089 amplified bands scored using 20 primer combinations with two selective nucleotides, 354 were polymorphic and further used in genetic diversity analysis. Genetic relationships among isolates were assessed with different phenetic approaches, including unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean clustering and principal coordinate analysis; the population's differentiation estimate was analyzed by molecular variance; and model-based clustering was employed to infer population structure. All four analyses clearly showed significant differences between isolates from apple trees and isolates from other host plants. No further grouping according to any other host plant was observed. The results indicate host specialization of apple isolates and support the taxonomic grouping of apple isolates.