Circulation of zoonotic flaviviruses in wild passerine birds in Western Spain.

We explore the presence of zoonotic flaviviruses (West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV)) neutralizing antibodies in rarely studied passerine bird species. We report, for the first time in Europe, WNV-specific antibodies in red avadavat and cetti's warbler, and USUV in yellow-crowned bishop. The evidence of WNV and USUV circulating in resident and migratory species has implications for both animal and public health. Future outbreaks in avian reservoir hosts may occur and passerines should be considered as priority target species in flavivirus surveillance programmes.

Comparison of two methods for obtaining and transporting corneal samples in suspected infectious keratitis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to compare two alternative methods of collecting and transporting media for the diagnosis of corneal ulcers, as not all clinical settings have conventional culture materials and transport media available. METHODS: In this open-label, prospective, comparative, and randomized study, patients with clinical suspicion of infectious keratitis with high risk of loss of vision had corneal specimens collected using two methods and transport media: Eswab scraping with Amies transport medium and 23-gauge needle scraping in BACTEC Peds broth. The order of each collection method was randomized. The samples were processed by standard methods, comparing the positivity frequencies for both by parametric and nonparametric tests, according to normality criteria. RESULTS: Corneal infiltrates from 40 eyes of 40 patients were analyzed. Culture positivity rate was 50% for Eswab and 35% for 23-gauge needle (P=0.258). The overall growth rate of the two methods combined was not higher than with the swab alone. The results obtained with a swab were not influenced by the collection sequence (P=0.112); however, the positivity rate was significantly higher when the sample taken with the needle was performed first (P=0.046). CONCLUSIONS: The single sample Eswab method of collection and transportation for the diagnosis of high risk corneal ulcers is a valid alternative and can be used in cases in which, for various reasons, there is no access to the full set of traditional culture materials.

Trends in corneal transplantation in a single center in Barcelona, Spain. Transitioning to DMEK.

PURPOSE: To observe trends in surgical techniques for corneal transplantation and main indications in our hospital over the past five years. METHODS: Retrospective descriptive study, including all keratoplasties performed at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain, between January 2014 and December 2018. RESULTS: In total, 332 keratoplasties were performed. In total, 127 (38.25%) were penetrating keratoplasties (PK), and 205 (61.75%) were lamellar keratoplasties (LK). In 2014, a total of 48 keratoplasties were carried-out, whereas in 2018, the total was 93, which represents a 93.75% increase in corneal transplantation surgeries. Eye bank-delivered precut tissue for DMEK was introduced in 2016, and 3 cases (6.25%), were carried out that year. In 2018, DMEK became the leading technique with 56 cases (60.22%). Fuchs' dystrophy was the leading indication for corneal transplant (37.63%) in 2018. CONCLUSION: Introduction of DMEK in a single center can be implemented in a relatively short period of time, becoming the most popular surgical procedure in corneal transplantation. A possible factor encouraging this change is the availability of eye bank-delivered precut tissue, and standardization of donor preparation and host surgical steps, optimizing surgical time in the operating room. This trend should lead to better visual outcomes, faster recovery times, and eventually to a higher surgical volume per year.

Transcriptomic changes in Cucurbita pepo fruit after cold storage: differential response between two cultivars contrasting in chilling sensitivity.

BACKGROUND: Zucchini fruit is susceptible to chilling injury (CI), but the response to low storage temperature is cultivar dependent. Previous reports about the response of zucchini fruit to chilling storage have been focused on the physiology and biochemistry of this process, with little information about the molecular mechanisms underlying it. In this work, we present a comprehensive analysis of transcriptomic changes that take place after cold storage in zucchini fruit of two commercial cultivars with contrasting response to chilling stress. RESULTS: RNA-Seq analysis was conducted in exocarp of fruit at harvest and after 14 days of storage at 4 and 20 °C. Differential expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained comparing fruit stored at 4 °C with their control at 20 °C, and then specific and common up and down-regulated DEGs of each cultivar were identified. Functional analysis of these DEGs identified similarities between the response of zucchini fruit to low temperature and other stresses, with an important number of GO terms related to biotic and abiotic stresses overrepresented in both cultivars. This study also revealed several molecular mechanisms that could be related to chilling tolerance, since they were up-regulated in cv. Natura (CI tolerant) or down-regulated in cv. Sinatra (CI sensitive). These mechanisms were mainly those related to carbohydrate and energy metabolism, transcription, signal transduction, and protein transport and degradation. Among DEGs belonging to these pathways, we selected candidate genes that could regulate or promote chilling tolerance in zucchini fruit including the transcription factors MYB76-like, ZAT10-like, DELLA protein GAIP, and AP2/ERF domain-containing protein. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a broader understanding of the important mechanisms and processes related to coping with low temperature stress in zucchini fruit and allowed the identification of some candidate genes that may be involved in the acquisition of chilling tolerance in this crop. These genes will be the basis of future studies aimed to identify markers involved in cold tolerance and aid in zucchini breeding programs.

Long-term follow-up (at 5 years) of midline incisional hernia repairs using a primary closure and prosthetic onlay technique: recurrence and quality of life.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The recurrence rate of incisional hernia (IH) repair is usually underestimated due to a lack of long-term follow-up. The objective of this study was to evaluate recurrence rate for patients operated on midline IH surgery, using a primary closure and prosthetic onlay technique, 5 years after the procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2009 to January 2011, all 92 patients operated on elective midline IH repair by primary closure and prosthetic onlay technique in a General Surgery Department were retrospectively included in the study. Exclusion criteria were absence of follow-up or death. Recurrence rate and quality of life were assessed. Demographic, surgical data and quality of life in patients with and without 5-year recurrence were compared. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 64 months. Ultimately, 76 patients were included in the study, representing 82% of the selected patients during the study period (76/92), of whom 24 presented a recurrence (32%). Half (12) were diagnosed for recurrence more than 3 years after the surgery. Patients who developed a recurrence had more percentage of obesity (64 vs. 29%, p = 0.016), which denoted an odds ratio (OR) for recurrence of 4.4 (1.2-15.7; p = 0.01) and they punctuated lower in quality of life (6.0 ± 2.9 vs. 7.6 ± 2.6, p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Recurrence rate on midline IH repair is still a concern (32% at 5 years). It is advisable to look for other strategies and more efficient surgical techniques for IH surgery, especially in obese patients.

Randomized clinical trial of mesh fixation with glue or sutures for Lichtenstein hernia repair.

BACKGROUND: Pain is the most likely reason for delay in resuming normal activities after groin hernia repair. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether the use of glue to fix the mesh instead of sutures reduced acute postoperative pain after inguinal hernia repair. Secondary objectives were to compare postoperative complications, chronic pain and early recurrence rates during 1-year follow-up. METHODS: Some 370 patients who underwent Lichtenstein hernia repair were randomized to receive either glue (Histoacryl®) or non-absorbable polypropylene sutures for fixation of lightweight polypropylene mesh. Postoperative complications, pain and recurrence were evaluated by an independent blinded observer. RESULTS: Postoperative pain at 8 h, 24 h, 7 days and 30 days was less when glue was used instead of sutures for all measures (P < 0·001). The operation was significantly quicker using glue (mean(s.d.) 35·3(8·7) min versus 39·9(11·1) min for sutures; P < 0·001). There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of postoperative complications, chronic pain and early recurrence at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSION: Atraumatic mesh fixation with glue was quicker and resulted in less acute postoperative pain than sutures for Lichtenstein hernia repair. Registration number: NCT02632097 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).

Vocal emotion processing deficits in HIV-infected individuals.

We aimed to explore the brain imaging correlates of vocal emotion processing in a group of HIV+ individuals and to compare the vocal emotion processing of HIV+ individuals with a group of healthy adults. We conducted multiple linear regressions to determine the cerebral correlates of a newly designed vocal emotion processing test in a sub-group of HIV+ individuals who completed the cerebral magnetic resonance scan (n = 36). Separately, we test whether the association between our test scores and each cerebral measure persisted regardless of the presence of neurocognitive impairment. We also calculated differences in average test scores between the total HIV+ group (n = 100) and a healthy adult group (n = 46). We found a positive association between the test scores and several brain area volumes: right frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, bilateral thalamus, and left hippocampus. We found a negative association between inflammatory markers in frontal white matter and the test scores. After controlling by neurocognitive impairment, several brain area volumes remained positively associated to the prosody test scores. Moreover, the whole HIV+ sample had significantly poorer test scores than healthy adults, but only in the subset of HIV+ individuals with neurocognitive impairment. For the first time, our results suggest that cerebral dysfunctions in particular brain areas involved in the processing of emotional auditory stimuli may occur in HIV+ individuals. These results highlight the need for broad characterization of the neuropsychological consequence of HIV brain damages.

Facial Emotion Processing in Aviremic HIV-infected Adults.

The emotional processing in human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive individuals (HIV+) has been scarcely studied. We included HIV+ individuals (n = 107) on antiretroviral therapy (≥2 years) who completed 6 facial processing tasks and neurocognitive testing. We compared HIV+ and healthy adult (HA) participants (n = 40) in overall performance of each facial processing task. Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to explore predictors of poorer accuracy in those measures in which HIV+ individuals performed poorer than HA participants. We separately explored the impact of neurocognitive status, antiretroviral regimen, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection on the tasks performance. We found similar performance in overall facial emotion discrimination, recognition, and recall between HIV+ and HA participants. The HIV+ group had poorer recognition of particular negative emotions. Lower WAIS-III Vocabulary scores and active HCV predicted poorer accuracy in recognition of particular emotions. Our results suggest that permanent damage of emotion-related brain systems might persist despite long-term effective antiretroviral therapy.

A single high dose of chlorpyrifos reduces long-term basal c-fos expression in the rat arcuate hypothalamic nucleus / La administración de una dosis aguda de clorpirifós reduce a largo plazo la expresión basal de c-fos en el núcleo arqueado del hipotálamo

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is an organophosphate compound used worldwide as a pesticide in agriculture that, after subcutaneous injection, keeps acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity inhibited within an organism for months. Ample clinical and experimental evidence shows that CPF exposure induces relevant and persistent neurobehavioral deficits in humans and animals, even after one single episode/injection. Additionally, clinical and epidemiological studies evidence that a significant percentage (60%) of Gulf War veterans as well as agricultural workers suffering from acute OP intoxication may have developed intolerance to nicotine and ethanol-containing beverages. Consistent with it, administration of a single high dose of CPF to adult Wistar rats elicited long-lasting reduced voluntary ethanol drinking and increased sedation to ethanol without evidence of altered ethanol metabolism, which indicates that CPF-ethanol neurobiological interactions may exist. In this study, we explore whether CPF exposure induces significant disturbances in basal and/or ethanol-evoked neural activity in a set of cholinoceptive brain regions critically involved with neurobiological responses to ethanol. For this aim, brain regional c-fos expression in response to acute ethanol (1.5 or 3.0 g/kg, i.p.) or saline was assessed in adult male Wistar rats previously injected with either a single high dose of CPF (250 mg/kg, sc) or vehicle. We found that CPF administration reduces long-term basal, but not ethanol-evoked, c-fos expression in the arcuate hypothalamic nucleus. Because independent brain pathways may modulate acute responses to ethanol and voluntary ethanol consumption, we do not rule out the contribution of basal neural disturbances observed in the Arc to CPF-elicited ethanol avoidance.

El clorpirifós (CPF) es un compuesto organofosforado utilizado como plaguicida en todo el mundo. Después de ser inyectado de manera subcutánea, mantiene la actividad de la enzima acetilcolinesterasa (AChE) inhibida durante meses. Estudios clínicos y experimentales muestran que la exposición al CPF induce déficits neuroconductuales persistentes en seres humanos y animales, incluso después de un solo episodio/inyección. Además, estudios epidemiológicos evidencian que un porcentaje significativo (60%) de los veteranos de la Guerra del Golfo, así como los agricultores que sufren una intoxicación aguda por organofosforados, desarrollan intolerancia a la nicotina y las bebidas que contienen etanol. Datos experimentales mostraron que la administración de una sola dosis alta de CPF en ratas Wistar adultas provoca una reducción a largo plazo del consumo voluntario de etanol y un incremento en la sedación provocada por etanol sin evidencias de alteración del metabolismo de esta sustancia, lo que indica que pueden existir interacciones neurobiológicas entre CPF-etanol. En este estudio, se explora si la exposición a CPF induce alteraciones significativas en la actividad neuronal basal o evocada por el etanol en un conjunto de regiones colinoceptivas del cerebro involucradas en las respuestas neurobiológicas al etanol. Para ello, se evaluó la expresión de c-fos en respuesta a una dosis de etanol aguda (1.5 o 3.0 g/kg, ip) o solución salina en ratas Wistar macho adultas previamente inyectados con dosis aguda de CPF (250 mg/kg, sc) o un vehículo. Encontramos que la administración de CPF redujo la expresión basal de c-fos a largo plazo, pero no la evocada por el etanol en el núcleo arqueado del hipotalámo. Debido a que vías cerebrales independientes podrían modular las respuestas agudas al etanol y el consumo voluntario del mismo, no se descarta la contribución de las alteraciones neuronales basales observadas en el Arc en la evitación del consumo de etanol provocado por CPF.

Cloning and characterisation of a putative pollen-specific polygalacturonase gene (CpPG1) differentially regulated during pollen development in zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L.).

Studies in zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L. spp. pepo) pollen have been limited to the viability and morphology of the mature pollen grain. The enzyme polygalacturonase (PG) is involved in pollen development and pollination in many species. In this work, we study anther and pollen development of C. pepo and present the cloning and characterisation of a putative PG CpPG1 (Accession no. HQ232488) from pollen cDNA in C. pepo. The predicted protein for CpPG1 has 416 amino acids, with a high homology to other pollen PGs, such as P22 from Oenothera organensis (76%) and PGA3 from Arabidopsis thaliana (73%). CpPG1 belongs to clade C, which comprises PGs expressed in pollen, and presents a 34 amino acid signal peptide for secretion towards the cell wall. DNA-blot analysis revealed that there are at least another two genes that code for PGs in C. pepo. The spatial and temporal accumulation of CpPG1 was studied by semi-quantitative- and qRT-PCR. In addition, mRNA was detected only in anthers, pollen and the rudimentary anthers of bisexual flowers (only present in some zucchini cultivars under certain environmental conditions that trigger anther development in the third whorl of female flowers). However, no expression was detected in cotyledons, stem or fruit. Furthermore, CpPG1 mRNA was accumulated throughout anther development, with the highest expression found in mature pollen. Similarly, exo-PG activity increased from immature anther stages to mature anthers and mature pollen. Overall, these data support the pollen specificity of this gene and suggest an involvement of CpPG1 in pollen development in C. pepo.