A georeferenced rRNA amplicon database of aquatic microbiomes from South America.

The biogeography of bacterial communities is a key topic in Microbial Ecology. Regarding continental water, most studies are carried out in the northern hemisphere, leaving a gap on microorganism's diversity patterns on a global scale. South America harbours approximately one third of the world's total freshwater resources, and is one of these understudied regions. To fill this gap, we compiled 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing data of microbial communities across South America continental water ecosystems, presenting the first database µSudAqua[db]. The database contains over 866 georeferenced samples from 9 different ecoregions with contextual environmental information. For its integration and validation we constructed a curated database (µSudAqua[db.sp]) using samples sequenced by Illumina MiSeq platform with commonly used prokaryote universal primers. This comprised ~60% of the total georeferenced samples of the µSudAqua[db]. This compilation was carried out in the scope of the µSudAqua collaborative network and represents one of the most complete databases of continental water microbial communities from South America.

Emergence and Spread of a B.1.1.28-Derived P.6 Lineage with Q675H and Q677H Spike Mutations in Uruguay.

Uruguay controlled the viral dissemination during the first nine months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Unfortunately, towards the end of 2020, the number of daily new cases exponentially increased. Herein, we analyzed the country-wide genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 between November 2020 and April 2021. We identified that the most prevalent viral variant during the first epidemic wave in Uruguay (December 2020-February 2021) was a B.1.1.28 sublineage carrying Spike mutations Q675H + Q677H, now designated as P.6, followed by lineages P.2 and P.7. P.6 probably arose around November 2020, in Montevideo, Uruguay's capital department, and rapidly spread to other departments, with evidence of further local transmission clusters; it also spread sporadically to the USA and Spain. The more efficient dissemination of lineage P.6 with respect to P.2 and P.7 and the presence of mutations (Q675H and Q677H) in the proximity of the key cleavage site at the S1/S2 boundary suggest that P.6 may be more transmissible than other lineages co-circulating in Uruguay. Although P.6 was replaced by the variant of concern (VOC) P.1 as the predominant lineage in Uruguay since April 2021, the monitoring of the concurrent emergence of Q675H + Q677H in VOCs should be of worldwide interest.

Real-Time Genomic Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern, Uruguay.

We developed a genomic surveillance program for real-time monitoring of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern (VOCs) in Uruguay. We report on a PCR method for SARS-CoV-2 VOCs, the surveillance workflow, and multiple independent introductions and community transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 P.1 VOC in Uruguay.

Recurrent Dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 Through the Uruguayan-Brazilian Border.

Uruguay is one of the few countries in the Americas that successfully contained the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) epidemic during the first half of 2020. Nevertheless, the intensive human mobility across the dry border with Brazil is a major challenge for public health authorities. We aimed to investigate the origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains detected in Uruguayan localities bordering Brazil as well as to measure the viral flux across this ∼1,100 km uninterrupted dry frontier. Using complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the Uruguayan-Brazilian bordering region and phylogeographic analyses, we inferred the virus dissemination frequency between Brazil and Uruguay and characterized local outbreak dynamics during the first months (May-July) of the pandemic. Phylogenetic analyses revealed multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 Brazilian lineages B.1.1.28 and B.1.1.33 into Uruguayan localities at the bordering region. The most probable sources of viral strains introduced to Uruguay were the Southeast Brazilian region and the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Some of the viral strains introduced in Uruguayan border localities between early May and mid-July were able to locally spread and originated the first outbreaks detected outside the metropolitan region. The viral lineages responsible for Uruguayan urban outbreaks were defined by a set of between four and 11 mutations (synonymous and non-synonymous) with respect to the ancestral B.1.1.28 and B.1.1.33 viruses that arose in Brazil, supporting the notion of a rapid genetic differentiation between SARS-CoV-2 subpopulations spreading in South America. Although Uruguayan borders have remained essentially closed to non-Uruguayan citizens, the inevitable flow of people across the dry border with Brazil allowed the repeated entry of the virus into Uruguay and the subsequent emergence of local outbreaks in Uruguayan border localities. Implementation of coordinated bi-national surveillance systems is crucial to achieve an efficient control of the SARS-CoV-2 spread across this kind of highly permeable borderland regions around the world.

Basin-scale monitoring and risk assessment of emerging contaminants in South American Atlantic coastal lagoons.

Emerging contaminants (ECs) such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, drugs of abuse and polar pesticides are under particular attention due to their high consumption, frequent detection in the environment and reported ecotoxicological risk. This study investigates the occurrence and distribution of multiclass of ECs in surface waters at basin scale of two Atlantic coastal lagoons of Uruguay, South America. For this purpose, a target screening approach covering up to 362 compounds was employed using nanoflow liquid chromatography - high resolution mass spectrometry (nanoLC/HRMS). 56 compounds were identified including five banned pesticides in the European Union: atrazine, carbendazim, chlorpyrifos ethyl, diazinon, and ethion. Pharmaceuticals, hormones and drugs of abuse showed maximum detection frequencies and concentrations downstream cities. The highest occurrence of pesticides was found in lagoons and streams with neighboring agricultural activity. ECs were also found in coastal sea. Environmental risk assessment revealed that the hormones 17α-ethinylestradiol and 17-ß-estradiol showed the highest risk to aquatic organisms in these basins. This study represents the first basin- scale monitoring of ECs in superficial waters encompassing streams, lagoons, and coastal seas in Uruguay, South America.

Environmental dynamics as a structuring factor for microbial carbon utilization in a subtropical coastal lagoon.

Laguna de Rocha belongs to a series of shallow coastal lagoons located along South America. It is periodically connected to the sea through a sand bar, exhibiting a hydrological cycle where physicochemical and biological gradients are rapidly established and destroyed. Its most frequent state is the separation of a Northern zone with low salinity, high turbidity and nutrient load, and extensive macrophyte growth, and a Southern zone with higher salinity and light penetration, and low nutrient content and macrophyte biomass. This zonation is reflected in microbial assemblages with contrasting abundance, activity, and community composition. The physicochemical conditions exerted a strong influence on community composition, and transplanted assemblages rapidly transformed to resembling the community of the recipient environment. Moreover, the major bacterial groups responded differently to their passage between the zones, being either stimulated or inhibited by the environmental changes, and exhibiting contrasting sensitivities to gradients. Addition of allochthonous carbon sources induced pronounced shifts in the bacterial communities, which in turn affected the microbial trophic web by stimulating heterotrophic flagellates and virus production. By contrast, addition of organic and inorganic nutrient sources (P or N) did not have significant effects. Altogether, our results suggest that (i) the planktonic microbial assemblage of this lagoon is predominantly carbon-limited, (ii) different bacterial groups cope differently with this constraint, and (iii) the hydrological cycle of the lagoon plays a key role for the alleviation or aggravation of bacterial carbon limitation. Based on these findings we propose a model of how hydrology affects the composition of bacterioplankton and of carbon processing in Laguna de Rocha. This might serve as a starting hypothesis for further studies about the microbial ecology of this lagoon, and of comparable transitional systems.

HISH-SIMS analysis of bacterial uptake of algal-derived carbon in the Río de la Plata estuary.

One of the main goals of microbial ecologists is to assess the contribution of distinct bacterial groups to biogeochemical processes, e.g. carbon cycling. Until very recently, it was not possible to quantify the uptake of a given compound at single cell level. The advent of nano-scale secondary-ion mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS), and its combination with halogen in situ hybridization (HISH) opened up this possibility. Despite its power, difficulties in cell identification during analysis of environmental samples might render this approach challenging for certain applications. A pilot study, designed to quantify the incorporation of phytoplankton-derived carbon by the main clades of heterotrophic aquatic bacteria (i.e. Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes), is used to exemplify and suggest potential solutions to these technical difficulties. The results obtained indicate that the main aquatic bacterial clades quantitatively differ in the incorporation of algae-derived organic matter. From the methodological point of view, they highlight the importance of the concentration of the target cells, which needs to be sufficient to allow for a rapid mapping under the nanoSIMS. Moreover, when working with highly productive waters, organic and inorganic particles pose a serious problem for cell recognition based on HISH-SIMS. In this work several technical suggestions are presented to minimize the above mentioned difficulties, including alternatives to improve the halogen labeling of the cells and proposing the use of a combination of FISH and HISH along with a mapping system. This approach considerably enhances the reliability of cell identification and the speed of the subsequent nanoSIMS analysis in such complex samples.

Tips and tricks for high quality MAR-FISH preparations: focus on bacterioplankton analysis.

The combination of microautoradiography and fluorescence in situ hybridization (MAR-FISH) is a powerful technique for tracking the incorporation of radiolabelled compounds by specific bacterial populations at a single cell resolution. It has been widely applied in aquatic microbial ecology as a tool to unveil key ecophysiological features, shedding light on relevant ecological issues such as bacterial biomass production, the role of different bacterioplankton groups in the global carbon and sulphur cycle, and, at the same time, providing insights into the life styles and niche differentiation of cosmopolitan members of the aquatic microbial communities. Despite its great potential, its application has remained restricted to a few laboratories around the world, in part due to its reputation as a "difficult technique". Therefore, the objective of this minireview is to highlight the impact of MAR-FISH application on aquatic microbial ecology, and also to provide basic concepts, as well as practical tips, for processing MAR-FISH preparations, thus aiming to contribute to a more widespread application of this powerful method.

Blooms of single bacterial species in a coastal lagoon of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.

We investigated seasonal differences in community structure and activity (leucine incorporation) of the planktonic bacterial assemblage in the freshwater and brackish-water zones of a shallow coastal lagoon of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Alphaproteobacteria formed the dominant microbial group in both zones throughout the sampling period. After an intrusion of marine water, members of the SAR11 lineage became abundant in the brackish-water zone. These bacteria were apparently distributed over the lagoon during the following months until they constituted almost 30% of all prokaryotic cells at both sampling sites. At the first sampling date (March 2003) a single alphaproteobacterial species unrelated to SAR11, Sphingomonas echinoides, dominated the microbial assemblages in both zones of the lagoon concomitantly with a bloom of filamentous cyanobacteria. Pronounced maxima of leucine incorporation were observed once in each zone of the lagoon. In the freshwater zone, this highly active microbial assemblage was a mix of the typical bacteria lineages expected in aquatic systems. By contrast, a single bacterial genotype with >99% similarity to the facultative pathogen gammaproteobacterial species Stenotrophomonas maltophilia formed >90% of the bacterial assemblage (>10(7) cell ml(-1)) in the brackish-water zone at the time point of highest bacterial leucine incorporation. Moreover, these bacteria were equally dominant, albeit less active, in the freshwater zone. Thus, the pelagic zone of the studied lagoon harbored repeated short-term blooms of single bacterial species. This finding may have consequences for environmental protection.

Evolución metabólica de pacientes diabéticos tipo 2 sometidos a un tratamiento combinado de dieta y ejercicios yoga / Metabolic evolution of type 2 diabetic patients undergoing medical treatment combined with diet and yoga exercises

Se realizó un estudio con 40 pacientes diabéticos tipo 2 con la evaluación del efecto que produce una dieta enriquecida en proteína de soya y ejercicios de moderada intensidad, para lo cual se midieron algunos indicadores bioquímicos. Al término del estudio se encontró en los pacientes que realizaron ejercicios yoga una disminución significativa (p<0,05) del colesterol total, los triglicéridos, el colesterol de las lipoproteínas de baja densidad y de la creatinina, así como un aumento del colesterol de las lipoproteínas de alta densidad con respecto al grupo que realizó ejercicios aerobios. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que esta terapia, combinada con ejercicios yoga, puede resultar efectiva en este tipo de pacientes

Carcinoma de la zona de transición esôfago-gástrica (cardias): un desafio de táctica quirúrgica / Gastroesophageal transition zone carcinomas (cardias): a challenge a surgical tactics

En base a una corta casuística de 17 operados por carcinoma de la zona de transición esófago-gástrica, se hace un estudio crítico retrospectivo. Se destaca la tardanza en el diagnóstico y la evolución infausta que como consecuencia de esta situación, determina que la propagación se haga muy florida, tanto en el aspecto visceral como ganglionar. En el primer aspecto, enfrenta la posibilidad de resecciones insuficientes tanto por el lado esofágico como por el gástrico y en el segundo plantea la necesidad de abordar tórax y abdomen si se quiere ser radical en el vaciamiento. Estas situaciones plantean posibilidades de abordaje combinados, en enfermos a menudo longevos y disminuídos en su función cardio-respiratória y nutricia por una parte y, por la otra, la necesidad de ubicar la anastomosis en torax, abdomen o cuello, de acuerdo al tipo de resección efectuada. En base a estas consideraciones analizadas por las distintas táticas que se emplearon, se comentan las bondades e inconvenientes de las mismas, lo que hará aceptar que cada caso requiere una tática propria, debiendo dejarse de lado, las operaciones tipo para todos los enfermos

Carcinoma de la zona de transición es¶fago-gástrica (cardias): un desafio de táctica quirúrgica / Gastroesophageal transition zone carcinomas (cardias): a challenge a surgical tactics

En base a una corta casuística de 17 operados por carcinoma de la zona de transición esófago-gástrica, se hace un estudio crítico retrospectivo. Se destaca la tardanza en el diagnóstico y la evolución infausta que como consecuencia de esta situación, determina que la propagación se haga muy florida, tanto en el aspecto visceral como ganglionar. En el primer aspecto, enfrenta la posibilidad de resecciones insuficientes tanto por el lado esofágico como por el gástrico y en el segundo plantea la necesidad de abordar tórax y abdomen si se quiere ser radical en el vaciamiento. Estas situaciones plantean posibilidades de abordaje combinados, en enfermos a menudo longevos y disminuídos en su función cardio-respiratória y nutricia por una parte y, por la otra, la necesidad de ubicar la anastomosis en torax, abdomen o cuello, de acuerdo al tipo de resección efectuada. En base a estas consideraciones analizadas por las distintas táticas que se emplearon, se comentan las bondades e inconvenientes de las mismas, lo que hará aceptar que cada caso requiere una tática propria, debiendo dejarse de lado, las operaciones tipo para todos los enfermos (AU)