ABSTRACT
The secretive behavior and life history of snakes makes studying their biology, distribution, and the epidemiology of venomous snakebite challenging. One of the most useful, most versatile, and easiest to collect types of biological data are photographs, particularly those that are connected with geographic location and date-time metadata. Photos verify occurrence records, provide data on phenotypes and ecology, and are often used to illustrate new species descriptions, field guides and identification keys, as well as in training humans and computer vision algorithms to identify snakes. We scoured eleven online and two offline sources of snake photos in an attempt to collect as many photos of as many snake species as possible, and attempt to explain some of the inter-species variation in photograph quantity among global regions and taxonomic groups, and with regard to medical importance, human population density, and range size. We collected a total of 725,565 photos—between 1 and 48,696 photos of 3098 of the world's 3879 snake species (79.9%), leaving 781 “most wanted” species with no photos (20.1% of all currently-described species as of the December 2020 release of The Reptile Database). We provide a list of most wanted species sortable by family, continent, authority, and medical importance, and encourage snake photographers worldwide to submit photos and associated metadata, particularly of “missing” species, to the most permanent and useful online archives: The Reptile Database, iNaturalist, and HerpMapper.
ABSTRACT
Propionibacterium freudenreichii is a beneficial bacterium traditionally used as a cheese ripening starter and more recently for its probiotic abilities based on the release of beneficial metabolites. In addition to these metabolites (short-chain fatty acids, vitamins, and bifidogenic factor), P. freudenreichii revealed an immunomodulatory effect confirmed in vivo by the ability to protect mice from induced acute colitis. This effect is, however, highly strain-dependent. Local action of metabolites and of immunomodulatory molecules is favored by the ability of probiotics to adhere to the host cells. This property depends on key surface compounds, still poorly characterized in propionibacteria. In the present study, we showed different adhesion rates to cultured human intestinal cells, among strains of P. freudenreichii. The most adhesive one was P. freudenreichii CIRM-BIA 129, which is known to expose surface-layer proteins. We evidenced here the involvement of these proteins in adhesion to cultured human colon cells. We then aimed at deciphering the mechanisms involved in adhesion. Adhesion was inhibited by antibodies raised against SlpB, one of the surface-layer proteins in P. freudenreichii CIRM-BIA 129. Inactivation of the corresponding gene suppressed adhesion, further evidencing the key role of slpB product in cell adhesion. This work confirms the various functions fulfilled by surface-layer proteins, including probiotic/host interactions. It opens new perspectives for the understanding of probiotic determinants in propionibacteria, and for the selection of the most efficient strains within the P. freudenreichii species.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between allergic manifestations in early life and the occurrence of newly diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) throughout childhood. STUDY DESIGN: We collected a population-based longitudinal cohort comprising children enrolled in Taiwan's National Health Insurance Program during 2000-2010. We first identified 387,262 children who had a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis (AD) before age 2 years, with 1:1 individualized matching to children without AD. Cox regression analyses were performed to estimate the early-onset and cumulative effects of allergic manifestations on ASD and ADHD. RESULTS: An estimated 0.5% of AD-exposed children received a diagnosis of ASD, and 3.7% were diagnosed with ADHD, significantly higher than the respective rates of 0.4% and 2.9% found in their nonexposed peers. Having AD before age 2 years was associated with an increased hazard ratio (HR) for ASD by 10% and that for ADHD by 16%; such increases were particularly prominent among those with earlier-onset or more severe AD. HRs were especially higher for children with persistent AD and emerging atopic respiratory diseases in childhood (eg, for ASD, adjusted HR, 1.75 and 2.13, respectively; P < .001). CONCLUSION: The observed increased risks of ASD and ADHD associated with AD in infancy suggest that a disordered immunologic response may exert effects on neurodevelopment and have implications for research into etiology and treatment strategies.