Using Wastewater Surveillance to Monitor Gastrointestinal Pathogen Infections in the State of Oklahoma.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater surveillance was widely used to monitor temporal and geographical infection trends. Using this as a foundation, a statewide program for routine wastewater monitoring of gastrointestinal pathogens was established in Oklahoma. The results from 18 months of surveillance showed that wastewater concentrations of Salmonella, Campylobacter, and norovirus exhibit similar seasonal patterns to those observed in reported human cases (F = 4-29, p < 0.05) and that wastewater can serve as an early warning tool for increases in cases, offering between one- and two-weeks lead time. Approximately one third of outbreak alerts in wastewater correlated in time with confirmed outbreaks of Salmonella or Campylobacter and our results further indicated that several outbreaks are likely to go undetected through the traditional surveillance approach currently in place. Better understanding of the true distribution and burden of gastrointestinal infections ultimately facilitates better disease prevention and control and reduces the overall socioeconomic and healthcare related impact of these pathogens. In this respect, wastewater represents a unique opportunity for monitoring infections in real-time, without the need for individual human testing. With increasing demands for sustainable and low-cost disease surveillance, the usefulness of wastewater as a long-term method for tracking infectious disease transmission is likely to become even more pronounced.

Safety, tolerability, and efficacy of high-frequency chest wall oscillation in pediatric patients with cerebral palsy and neuromuscular diseases: an exploratory randomized controlled trial.

Airway secretions and infections are common in cerebral palsy and neuromuscular diseases. Chest physiotherapy is standard therapy but effort is substantial. High-frequency chest wall oscillation is used in cystic fibrosis but tolerability and safety data in cerebral palsy and neuromuscular disease are limited. A prospective, randomized, controlled trial of high-frequency chest wall oscillation and standard chest physiotherapy was performed in participants with neuromuscular disease or cerebral palsy. Outcome measures included respiratory-related hospitalizations, antibiotic therapy, chest radiographs, and polysomnography. Care-givers were questioned regarding therapy adherence. A total of 28 participants enrolled, 23 completed (12 chest physiotherapy, mean study period 5 months). No adverse outcomes were reported. Adherence to prescribed regimen was higher with high-frequency chest wall oscillation (P = .036). Our data suggest safety, tolerability, and better compliance with high-frequency chest wall oscillation. Improvement in airway clearance may help prevent hospitalizations. Larger controlled trials are required to confirm these results.

Production and secretion of resveratrol in hairy root cultures of peanut.

Resveratrol and its derivatives are natural stilbenes associated with many health benefits that include those conferred by their antioxidant and anticancer properties. While stilbenes can be recovered as an extract from a selected number of plants, these products are not suitable for many applications in the food/pharmaceutical sectors due to high levels of impurities as well as the overall low concentration of resveratrol and its derivatives in the extract. To deliver a highly defined and enriched resveratrol product, hairy root cultures of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) were established and tested as a bioproduction system for resveratrol and associated derivatives. Analyses by HPTLC and GC-MS of ethyl acetate extracts showed that a single 24 h sodium acetate elicitation resulted in a 60-fold induction and secretion of trans-resveratrol into the medium of peanut hairy root cultures. trans-Resveratrol accumulated to levels of 98 microg/mg of the dried extract from the medium representing 99% of the total resveratrol produced. Other stilbenes, including trans-pterostilbene, were also detected in the medium. Our results demonstrate the capacity of hairy root cultures as an effective bioprocessing system for valued nutraceuticals like resveratrol and resveratrol derivatives. In being able to effectively induce and recover high levels of resveratrol and associated derivatives from the media fraction, hairy roots may offer a scalable and continuous product recovery platform for naturally-derived, high quality, enriched nutraceuticals.