117,540 research outputs found
Complete sequences of IncHI1 plasmids carrying blaCTX-M-1 and qnrS1 in equine Escherichia coli provide new insights into plasmid evolution
No full textObjectives: To determine the structure of two multidrug-resistant IncHI1 plasmids carrying blaCTX-M-1 in Escherichia coli isolates disseminated in an equine clinic in the Czech Republic. Methods: A complete nucleotide sequencing of 239 kb IncHI1 (pEQ1) and 287 kb IncHI1/X1 (pEQ2) plasmids was performed using the 454-Genome Sequencer FLX system. The sequenceswere compared using bioinformatic tools with other sequenced IncHI1 plasmids. Results: A comparative analysis of pEQ1 and pEQ2 identified high nucleotide identity with the IncHI1 type 2 plasmids. A novel 24 kb module containing an operon involved in short-chain fructooligosaccharide uptake and metabolism was found in the pEQ backbones. The role of the pEQ plasmids in the metabolism of shortchain fructooligosaccharides was demonstrated by studying the growth of E. coli cells in the presence of these sugars. The module containing the blaCTX-M-1 gene was formed by a truncated macrolide resistance cluster and flanked by IS26 as previously observed in IncI1 and IncN plasmids. The IncHI1 plasmid changed size and gained the quinolone resistance gene qnrS1 as a result of IS26-mediated fusion with an IncX1 plasmid. Conclusions: Our data highlight the structure and evolution of IncHI1 from equine E. coli. A plasmidmediated sugar metabolic element could play a key role in strain fitness, contributing to the successful dissemination and maintenance of these plasmids in the intestinal microflora of horses. © The Author 2014
NARRATION TO PROMOTE RESTORATIVE ATTITUDES IN ADOLESCENTS
No full textAccording to recent studies (Lodi et al., 2021), using a restorative approach in educational contexts is useful
to efficiently solve problematic situations at school as well as to promote prosocial behaviours among
young people. However, developing restorative attitudes is a slow and complex process that requires to
develop the ability to adopt a probabilistic and multicausal representation (Nicolini, 2023) of the reality.
In fact, according to the balanced model of restorative justice (Chapman, 2012), the damage that is the
result of a crime involves not only the person victim, but also the responsible of the situation as well as the
overall community in which the situation has been developed. Consistently with this assumption, the
present study has the aim to develop a complex and a restorative attitude into adolescents. Specifically, it
was hypothesized that the involvement in a narrative activity in which they assume in turn the prospective
of a person victim, of a person author of a crime and/or of the community, can be useful to improve their
restorative attitudes. Participants were 44 adolescents (24 girls and 20 boys) attending high school
(Mage = 17.58; SD = .53). They took part to an event at the University lasting one morning. First, they were
told a story about a car accident. Then they completed a questionnaire (T0) about anagraphic information
and their restorative attitudes (Taylor & Bailey, 2022), a multicomponent tool with subscales about
empathic understanding, harm and needs, restoration processes, accountability, community engagement.
Soon after they were divided into groups to discuss about the episode based on the point of view of people
victims or responsible of the car accident, familiars, friends, media. Each participant takes part to two
different groups, adopting two different roles. At the end, they completed again the same questionnaire (T1)
used at the beginning of the activity, collecting data about the empathic understanding, harm and needs,
restoration processes, accountability, and community engagement. Descriptive and t-test analyses were
performed. Statistical analyses showed that participants indicate an improvement of their restorative
attitudes in term of empathic understanding, t(43) = -3.81; p = .000, harm and needs, t(43) = -4.09;
p = .000, restoration processes, t(43) = -4.01; p = .000, accountability, t(43) = 2.31; p = .026, but not
community engagement, t(43) = -1.66; p = .103. In conclusion, the results suggested that is possible to
promote a restorative attitude among adolescents, despite more actions are needed to promote also a
community engagement approach. Strengths, limits and future directions of the study will be discussed
High Diversity of Extended-Spectrum beta-Lactamases in Escherichia coli Isolates from Italian Broiler Flocks
No full textWe characterized 67 Escherichia coli isolates with reduced susceptibility to cefotaxime or ceftiofur obtained from healthy broilers housed in five Italian farms. The blaCTX-M-1, blaCTX-M-32 and blaSHV-12 beta-lactamase genes were identified on IncI1, IncN, or IncFIB plasmids. Considerable genetic diversity was detected among the extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing isolates, and we identified indistinguishable strains in
unrelated farms and indistinguishable plasmids in genetically unrelated strains. The detection of highly mobile plasmids suggests a potential animal reservoir for beta-lactamase genes
Children’s sense of reality: The development of orbitofrontal reality filtering
No full textOrbitofrontal reality filtering denotes a memory control mechanism necessary to keep thought and behavior in phase with reality. In adults, it is mediated by the orbitofrontal cortex and subcortical connections and its failure induces reality confusion, confabulations, and disorientation. Here we investigated for the first time the development of this mechanism in 83 children from ages 7 to 11 years and 20 adults. We used an adapted version of a continuous recognition task composed of two runs with the same picture set but arranged in different order. The first run measures storage and recognition capacity (item memory), the second run measures reality filtering. We found that accuracy and reaction times in response to all stimulus types of the task improved in parallel across ages. Importantly, at no age was there a notable performance drop in the second run. This means that reality filtering was already efficacious at age 7 and then steadily improved as item memory became stronger. At the age of 11 years, reality filtering dissociated from item memory, similar to the pattern observed in adults. However, performance in 11-year-olds was still inferior as compared to adults. The study shows that reality filtering develops early in childhood and becomes more efficacious as memory capacity increases. For the time being, it remains unresolved, however, whether this function already depends on the orbitofrontal cortex, as it does in adults, or on different brain structures in the developing brains of children
Characterization of plasmids encoding extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and QnrS1 in Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) isolated from commercial poultry flocks in Italy.
No full textAvian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) cause infections with high morbidity and mortality in poultry flocks. The aim of this study was to characterize the mobilizable pool mediating resistance to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones in APEC collected in Italy between 2008 and 2012.
Non-repetitive APEC from turkeys (n=109), broilers (n=98) and layers (n=22) were examined. Isolates resistant to third-generation cephalosporins were screened for presence of blaTEM, blaSHV, blaCTX-M and blaCMY-2 and for chromosomal ampC promoter mutations, while all isolates were tested by PCR for all known plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes. ESBL/AmpC or PMQR-harboring plasmids were typed by traditional typing methods.
Twenty-eight (12%) isolates displayed resistance to third-generation cephalosporins either mediated by mutations leading to chromosomal ampC overproduction (n=10) or by the following plasmid/gene combinations: IncI1/ST26/blaSHV-12 (n=1), IncI1/ST3/blaCTX-M-1 (n=7), IncI1/ST26/blaCTX-M-1 (n=1), IncI1/ST36/blaCTX-M-1 (n=2), IncI1/STnew/blaCTX-M-1 (n=1), IncN/blaCTX-M-1 (n=1), IncI1/ST26/blaCTX-M-2 (n=1), IncFII/blaCTX-M-14 (n=1), IncK/blaCTX-M-14 (n=1), IncI1/ST26/blaCMY-2 (n=1) and IncK/blaCMY-2 (n=1). Plasmids measured approximately 40 to 200 kb and mainly exhibited different RFLP profiles. Sixty (26%) and 21 (9%) isolates displayed resistance to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin, respectively. qnrS1 was detected in two isolates on IncX2 and a non-typeable plasmid of ca. 30 and 40 kb, respectively.
The APEC population in Italian poultry harbours diverse ESBL-encoding genes and plasmids, often in association with fluroquinolone resistance. Interestingly, IncI1/ST26 plasmids were associated with four β-lactamases (SHV-12, CTX-M-1, CTX-M-2 and CMY-2), suggesting that this plasmid lineage is well adapted in APEC isolated from Italian poultry production. These findings underline the need to develop new strategies for prevention and therapy of multidrug-resistant APEC infections
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in the dog: taxonomy, diagnostics, ecology, epidemiology and pathogenicity
No full textThe dog is the natural host of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. Many research efforts are currently being undertaken to expand our knowledge and understanding of this important canine commensal and opportunistic pathogen.
The objective of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of the species, including the latest research outcomes, with emphasis on taxonomy, diagnostics, ecology, epidemiology and pathogenicity.
Despite the important taxonomic changes that have occurred over the past few years, the risk of misidentification in canine specimens is low and does not have serious consequences for clinical practice. Staphylococcus pseudintermedius carriage in the dog is more frequent and genetically heterogeneous compared with that of Staphylococcus aureus in man. It appears that these staphylococcal species have evolved separately through adaptation to their respective natural hosts and differ with regard to various aspects concerning ecology, population structure and evolution of antibiotic resistance.
Further understanding of the ecology and epidemiology of S. pseudintermedius is hampered by the lack of a standard method for rapid and discriminatory typing and by the limited data available on longitudinal carriage and population structure of meticillin-susceptible strains. With regard to pathogenicity, it is only now that we are starting to explore the virulence potential of S. pseudintermedius based on genomic and proteomic approaches, and more research is needed to assess the importance of individual virulence factors and the possible existence of hypervirulent strains
Evaluation of methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus intermedius isolated from dogs
No full textMethicillin and multi-drug resistance were investigated in 136 Staphylococcus intermedius strains of canine origin. The large majority of isolates were found to be mecA-negative by polymerase chain reaction, whereas only four strains were positive for the mecA gene. All mecA-positive strains were confirmed as methicillin-resistant by complementary tests, except for oxacillin disk diffusion, which yielded one false-negative result. A significantly higher resistance to fusidic acid, lincosamides, and cotrimoxazole was observed in methicillin-resistant S. intermedius (MRSI) compared with methicillin-susceptible strains. Although the prevalence of MRSI in dogs appeared to be low, methicillin resistance was confirmed to be associated with multi-drug resistance, suggesting the importance of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of canine S. intermedius strains
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